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St.    Francis  High 


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THE  LIFE 
OP 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

VOLUME  I 


THE  LIFE  OF 

ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

DRAWN    FROM    ORIGINAL 
SOURCES   AND    CONTAIN- 
ING  MANY  SPEECHES,  LET- 
TERS    AND     TELEGRAMS 
HITHERTO    UNPUBLISHED 

9W9I!  Rouse  cf  $'y$fi| 
library 

I  D  A  M.  T  A  R  B  E  L  L 

VOLUME    ONE 

NEW  YORK 
Lincoln   Memorial  Association 


Copyright,  1895,  1896,  1898,  1899 
By  THE  S.  S.  McCLURE  Co. 

Copyright,  1900 

By  DOUBLEDAY    &    McCLURE    Co. 


Copyright,  1900 
By  MCCLURE,  PHILLIPS  &  Co. 


70  w    Father 


- 


s 


PREFACE 


THE  work  here  offered  the  public  was  begun  in  1894  at 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  S.  S.  McClure  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Phillips, 
editors  of  "  McClure's  Magazine."  Their  desire  was  to  add 
to  our  knowledge  of  Abraham  Lincoln  by  collecting  and  pre- 
serving the  reminiscences  of  such  of  his  contemporaries  as 
were  then  living.  In  undertaking  the  work  it  was  deter- 
mined to  spare  neither  labor  nor  money  and  in  this  deter- 
mination Mr.  McClure  and  his  associates  have  never  wa- 
vered. Without  the  sympathy,  confidence,  suggestion  and 
criticism  which  they  have  given  the  work  it  would  have  been 
impossible.  They  established  in  their  editorial  rooms  what 
might  be  called  a  Lincoln  Bureau  and  from  there  an  or- 
ganized search  was  made  for  reminiscences,  pictures  and 
documents.  To  facilitate  the  work  all  persons  possessing 
or  knowing  of  Lincoln  material  were  asked  through  the 
Magazine  to  communicate  with  the  editor.  The  response 
was  immediate  and  amazing.  Hundreds  of  persons  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  replied.  In  every  case  the  clews 
thus  obtained  were  investigated  and  if  the  matter  was  found 
to  be  new  and  useful  was  secured.  The  author  wrote  thou- 
sands of  letters  and  travelled  thousands  of  miles  in  collecting 
the  material  which  came  to  the  editor  simply  as  a  result  of 
this  request  in  the  magazine.  The  work  thus  became  one  in 
which  the  whole  country  co-operated. 

At  the  outset  it  was  the  intention  of  the  editors  to  use  the 
results  of  the  research  simply  as  a  series  of  unpublished  rem- 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

iniscences,  but  after  a  few  months  the  new  material  gath- 
ered, while  valuable  seemed  to  them  too  fragmentary  to  be 
published  as  it  stood,  and  the  author  was  asked  to  prepare  a 
series  of  articles  on  Lincoln  covering  his  life  up  to  1858  and 
embodying  as  far  as  possible  the  unpublished  material  col- 
lected. These  articles,  which  appeared  in  "  McClure's 
Magazine  "  for  1895  an(*  1896,  were  received  favorably,  and 
it  was  decided  to  follow  them  by  a  series  on  the  later  life  of 
Lincoln.  This  latter  series  was  concluded  in  September, 
1899,  and  both  series,  with  considerable  supplementary  mat- 
ter, are  published  in  the  present  volumes. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  brief  preface  to  mention  all  who 
have  aided  in  the  work,  but  there  are  a  few  whose  names 
must  not  be  omitted,  so  essential  has  their  assistance  been  to 
the  enterprise. 

From  the  beginning  'Mr.  J.  McCan  Davis  of  Springfield, 
Illinois,  has  been  of  great  service,  particularly  in  examining 
the  files  of  Illinois  newspapers  and  in  interviewing.  It  is  to 
Mr.  Davis's  intelligent  and  patient  research  that  we  owe  the 
report  of  Lincoln's  first  published  speech,  the  curious  letters 
on  the  Adams  law  case,  most  of  the  documents  of  Lincoln's 
early  life  in  New  Salem  and  Springfield,  such  as  his  first 
vote,  his  reports  and  maps  of  surveys,  his  marriage  certifi- 
cate and  many  of  the  letters  printed  in  the  appendix.  Mr. 
William  H.  Lambert  of  Philadelphia  has  also  assisted  us 
constantly  by  his  sympathy  and  suggestions,  and  his  large 
and  valuable  Lincoln  collection  has  been  freely  at  our  dis- 
posal. Other  collections  that  have  been  generously  opened 
are  those  of  O.  H.  Oldroyd  of  Washington,  R.  T. 
Durrett,  Louisville,  Ky.,  C.  F.  Gunther,  Chicago,  111.,  and 
Louis  Vanuxem,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  The  War  Department 
of  the  United  States  Government  has  extended  many  cour- 
tesies, the  War  Records  being  freely  opened  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  War  Records  Commission  aiding  us  in  every  way 


PREFACE  be 

in  their  power.  The  librarians  of  the  War  Department,  of 
the  Congressional  Library,  of  the  Boston  Public  Library  and 
of  the  Astor  Library  of  New  York,  have  also  been  most 
helpful. 

The  chief  obligation  which  any  student  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln owes  is  to  the  great  work  of  Messrs.  Nicolay  and  Hay. 
In  it  are  collected  nearly  all  the  documents  essential  to  a 
study  of  Lincoln's  life.  Their  History  has  been  freely  con- 
sulted in  preparing  this  work  and  whenever  letters  and 
speeches  of  Lincoln  appearing  in  their  collection  of  his 
writings  have  been  quoted,  their  version  has  been  followed. 
Other  lives  of  Lincoln  that  have  been  found  useful  are  those 
of  W.  H.  Herndon,  W.  O.  Stoddard,  John  T.  Morse,  Isaac 
Arnold,  Ward  H.  Lamon,  H.  C.  Whitney,  and  J.  G. 
Holland. 

The  new  material  collected  will,  we  believe,  add  con- 
siderably to  our  knowledge  of  Lincoln's  life.  Docu- 
ments are  presented  establishing  clearly  that  his  mother 
was  not  the  nameless  girl  that  she  has  been  so  generally 
believed.  His  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  is  shown  to  have 
been  something  more  than  a  shiftless  "  poor  white,"  and 
Lincoln's  early  life,  if  hard  and  crude,  to  have  been  full  of 
honest,  cheerful  effort  at  betterment.  His  struggles  for  a 
livelihood  and  his  intellectual  development  from  the  time  he 
started  out  for  himself  until  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  are 
traced  with  more  detail  than  in  any  other  biography,  and 
considerable  new  light  is  thrown  on  this  period  of  his  life. 
The  sensational  account  of  his  running  away  from  his  own 
wedding,  accepted  generally  by  historians,  is  shown  to  be 
false.  To  the  period  of  Lincoln's  life  from  1849,  when  he 
gave  up  politics,  until  1858,  the  period  of  the  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  Debates,  the  most  important  contribution  made  is 
the  report  of  what  is  known  as  the  "  Lost  Speech." 

The  second  volume  of  the  Life  contains  as  an  appendix 


X  PREFACE 

196  pages  of  letters,  telegrams  and  speeches  which  do  not 
appear  in  Lincoln's  "  Complete  Works/'  published  by  his 
private  secretaries  Messrs.  Nicolay  and  Hay.  The  great 
majority  of  these  documents  have  never  been  published  at 
all.  The  source  from  which  they  have  been  obtained  is 
given  in  each  case. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  cover  the  history  of  Lin- 
coln's times  save  as  necessary  in  tracing  the  development 
of  his  mind  and  in  illustrating  his  moral  qualities.  It  is 
Lincoln  the  man,  as  seen  by  his  fellows  and  revealed  by  his 
own  acts  and  words,  that  the  author  has  tried  to  picture. 
This  has  been  the  particular  aim  of  the  second  series  of 

articles. 

I.  M.  T. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    The  Origin  of  the  Lincoln  Family — The  Lincolns  in 

Kentucky — Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln  I 

II.    The  Lincolns  leave  Kentucky  for  Southern  Indiana — 

Conditions  of  life  in  their  new  home    -  18 

III.  Abraham  Lincoln's  early  opportunities— The  books  he 

read — Trips  to  New  Orleans — Impression  he  made  on 

his  friends  -  29 

IV.  The  Lincolns  leave  Indiana— The  journey  to  Illinois- 

Abraham  Lincoln  starts  out  for  himself  -  -       45 

V.    Lincoln  secures  a  position— He  studies  grammar— First 

appearance  in  politics      -  -  59 

VI.  The  Black  Hawk  war— Lincoln  chosen  captain  of  a 
company— Re-enlists  as  an  independent  ranger— End 
of  the  war  -  -  -  73 

VII.    Lincoln  runs  for  State  assembly  and  is 'defeated— Store- 
keeper— Student — Postmaster — Surveyor         -  -89 
VIII.    Electioneering  in  Illinois  in  1834— Lincoln  reads  law- 
First  term   as   assemblyman — Lincoln's    first  great 
sorrow       -                      -                      -  108 
IX.    Lincoln  is  re-elected  to  the  Illinois  assembly— His  first 
published  address— Protests  against  pro-slavery  reso- 
lutions of  the  assembly   -                                   -  124 
X.    Lincoln  begins  to  study  law — Mary  Owens — A  news- 
paper contest— Growth  of  political  influence    -           -      147 
xi 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XL     Lincoln's  engagement  to  Mary  Todd— Breaking  of  the 

engagement — Lincoln-Shields  duel      V.'.'         * 
XII.     Lincoln  becomes  a  candidate  for  Congress  and  is  de- 
feated—On   the    stump    in    1844 — Nominated    and 
elected  to  the  30th  Congress    :-  y 

XIII.  Lincoln  in  Washington  in  1847 — He  opposes  the  Mexi- 

can war— Campaigning  in  New  England 

XIV.  Lincoln   at   Niagara— Secures  a  patent   for  an  inven- 

tion—Abandons politics  and  decides  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  law       ----.. 
XV.     Lincoln  on  the  circuit— His  humor  and  persuasiveness 
— His  manner  of  preparing  cases,   examining   wit- 
nesses, and  addressing  juries      ... 
XVI.     Lincoln's  important  law  cases — Defence  of  a  slave  girl 
— The    McCormick    case — The    Armstrong   murder 
case — The  Rock  Island  bridge  case       - 
XVII.     Lincoln  re-enters  politics    - 

XVIII.     The  Lincoln-Douglas  debates        .... 
XIX.     Lincoln's  nomination  in  1860        «... 
XX.    The  campaign  of  1860         ..... 
XXI.    Mr.  Lincoln  as  President-elect  •          - 


PACKS 


170 


102 


207 


225 


-        241 


257 
279 

301 

334 
359 
387 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   ORIGIN   OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY — THE   LINCOLNS  IN 
KENTUCKY— BIRTH   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

BETWEEN  the  years  1635  and  1645  there  came  to  the  town 
of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  from  the  west  of  England,  eight 
men  named  Lincoln.  Three  of  these,  Samuel,  Daniel,  and 
Thomas,  were  brothers.  Their  relationship,  if  any,  to  the 
other  Lincolns  who  came  over  from  the  same  part  of  Eng- 
land at  about  the  same  time,  is  not  clear.  Two  of  these  men, 
Daniel  and  Thomas,  died  without  heirs ;  but  Samuel  left  a 
large  family,  including  four  sons.  Among  the  descendants 
of  Samuel  Lincoln's  sons  were  many  good  citizens  and 
prominent  public  officers.  One  was  a  member  of  the  Boston 
Tea  Party,  and  served  as  a  captain  of  artillery  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution.  Three  served  on  the  brig  Hazard  during 
the  Revolution.  Levi  Lincoln,  a  great-great-grandson  of 
Samuel,  born  in  Hingham  in  1749,  and  graduated  from  Har- 
vard, was  one  of  the  minute-men  at  Cambridge  immediately 
after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  a  delegate  to  the  convention  in 
Cambridge  for  framing  a  state  constitution,  and  in  1781  was 
elected  to  the  continental  congress,  but  declined  to  serve. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives  and  of  the 
senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  appointed  attorney-general 
of  the  United  States  by  Jefferson ;  for  a  few  months  preced- 
ing the  arrival  of  Madison  he  was  secretary  of  state,  and  in 
he  was  elected  lieutenant-governor  of  Massachusetts. 


2  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

In  1811  he  was  appointed  associate  justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  by  President  Madison,  an  office  which 
he  declined.  From  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war  he 
was  considered  the  head  of  the  Massachusetts  bar. 

His  eldest  son,  Levi  Lincoln,  born  in  1782,  had  also  an 
honorable  career.  He  was  a  Harvard  graduate,  became 
governor  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  and  held  other  im- 
portant public  offices.  He  received  the  degree  of  LL.  D. 
from  both  Williams  College,  and  Harvard  College. 

Another  son  of  Levi  Lincoln,  Enoch  Lincoln,  served  in 
congress  from  1818  to  1826.  He  became  governor  of  Maine 
in  1827,  holding  the  position  until  his  death  in  1829.  Enoch 
Lincoln  was  a  writer  of  more  than  ordinary  ability. 

The  fourth  son  of  Samuel  Lincoln  was  called  Mordecai. 
Mordecai  was  a  rich  "  blacksmith,"  as  an  iron-worker  was 
called  in  those  days,  and  the  proprietor  of  numerous  iron- 
works, saw-mills,  and  grist-mills,  which  with  a  goodly 
amount  of  money  he  distributed  at  his  death  among  his  child- 
ren and  grandchildren.  Two  of  his  children,  Mordecai  and 
Abraham,  did  not  remain  in  Massachusetts,  but  removed  to 
New  Jersey,  and  thence  to  Pennsylvania,  where  both  became 
rich,  and  dying,  left  fine  estates  to  their  children.  Their  de- 
scendants in  Pennsylvania  have  continued  to  this  day  to  be 
well-to-do  people,  some  of  them  having  taken  prominent 
positions  in  public  affairs.  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Berks 
county,  who  was  born  in  1736  and  died  in  1806,  filled  many 
public  offices,  being  a  member  of  the  general  assembly  of 
Pennsylvania,  of  the  state  convention  of  1787,  and  of  the 
state  constitutional  convention  in  1790. 

One  of  the  sons  of  this  second  Mordecai,  John,  received 
from  his  father  "  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  lying  in  the 
Jerseys."  But  evidently  he  did  not  care  to  cultivate  his  in- 
heritance, for  about  1758  he  removed  to  Virginia.  "  Vir- 
ginia John,"  as  this  member  of  the  family  was  called,  had 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY  3 

five  sons  one  of  whom,  Jacob,  entered  the  Revolutionary 
army  and  served  as  a  lieutenant  at  Yorktown.  The  third 
son  was  named  Abraham  and  to  him  his  father  conveyed, 
in  1773,  a  tract  of  210  acres  of  land  in  what  is  now  Rocking- 
ham  county,  Virginia.  But  though  Abraham  Lincoln  pros- 
pered and  added  to  these  acres  he  was  not  satisfied  to  remain 
many  years  in  Virginia.  It  was  not  strange.  The  farm  on 
which  he  lived  lay  close  to  the  track  of  one  of  the  earliest  of 
those  wonderful  western  migrations  which  from  time  to 
time  have  taken  place  in  this  country.  Soon  after  John 
Lincoln  came  into  Virginia  vague  rumors  began  to  be  cir- 
culated there  of  a  rich  western  land  called  Kentucky.  These 
rumors  rapidly  developed  into  facts,  as  journeys  were  made 
into  the  new  land  by  John  Finley,  Daniel  Boone  and  other 
adventure-loving  men,  and  settlers  began  to  move  thither 
from  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  There 
were  but  two  roads  by  which  Kentucky  could  be  reached 
then,  the  national  highway  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg 
and  thence  by  the  Ohio,  and  the  highway  which  ran  from 
Philadelphia  south-westward  through  the  Virginia  valley  to 
Cumberland  Gap  and  thence  by  a  trail  called  the  Wilderness 
Road,  northwest  to  the  Ohio  at  Louisville.  The  latter  road 
was  considered  less  dangerous  and  more  practical  than  the 
former  and  by  it  the  greater  part  of  the  emigrants  journeyed. 
Now  this  road  lay  through  Rockingham  county.  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  thus  directly  under  the  influence  of  a  moving 
procession  of  restless  seekers  after  new  lands  and  unknown 
goods.  The  spell  came  upon  him  and,  selling  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  land  in  Rockingham  County  for  five  thou- 
sand pounds  of  the  current  money  of  Virginia — a  sum  worth 
at  that  time  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
pounds  sterling — he  joined  a  party  of  travelers  to  the  Wil- 
derness. Returning  a  few  months  later  he  moved  his  whole 
family,  consisting  of  a  wife  and  five  children,  into  Kentucky. 


4  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  ambitious  to  become  a  landed  pro- 
prietor in  the  new  country,  and  he  entered  a  generous  amount 
of  land — four  hundred  acres  on  Long  run,  in  Jefferson 
county ;  eight  hundred  acres  on  Green  river,  near  the  Green 
river  lick ;  five  hundred  acres  in  Campbell  county.  He  settled 
near  the  first  tract,  where  he  undertook  to  clear  a  farm.  It 
was  a  dangerous  task,  for  the  Indians  were  still  troublesome, 
and  the  settlers,  for  protection,  were  forced  to  live  in  or  near 
forts  or  stations.  In  1784,  when  John  Filson  published  his 
"  History  of  Kentucky,"  though  there  was  a  population  of 
thirty  thousand  in  the  territory,  there  were  but  eighteen 
houses  outside  of  the  stations.  Of  these  stations,  or  stock- 
ades, there  were  but  fifty-two.  According  to  the  tradition 
in  the  Lincoln  family,  Abraham  Lincoln  lived  at  Hughes  Sta- 
tion on  Floyd  creek  in  Jefferson  county. 

All  went  well  with  him  and  his  family  until  1788.  Then, 
one  day,  while  he  and  his  three  sons  were  at  work  in  their 
clearing,  an  unexpected  Indian  shot  killed  the  father.  His 
death  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  family.  The  large  tracts  of 
land  which  he  had  entered  were  still  uncleared,  and  his  per- 
sonal property  was  necessarily  small.  The  difficulty  of  reach- 
ing the  country  at  that  date,  as  well  as  its  wild  condition, 
made  it  impracticable  for  even  a  wealthy  pioneer  to  own 
more  stock  or  household  furniture  than  was  absolutely  es- 
sential. Abraham  Lincoln  was  probably  as  well  provided 
with  personal  property  as  most  of  his  neighbors.  The  in- 
ventory of  his  estate,  now  owned  by  R.  T.  Durrett,  LL.  D., 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  was  returned  by  the  appraisers  on 
March  10,  1789.  It  gives  a  clearer  idea  of  the  condition  in 
which  he  left  his  wife  and  children,  than  any  description 
could  do: 

£  s.  d 

I  Sorrel  horse 8 

i  Black  horse 9  10 

I  Red  cow  and  calf 4  10 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY  5 

£  s.  d. 

I  Brindle  cow  and  calf 4  K> 

I  Red  cow  and  calf 5 

I  Brindle  bull  yearling * 

I  Brindle  heifer  yearling I 

Bar  spear-plough  and  tackling 2  5 

3  Weeding  hoes 7  6 

Flax  wheel 6 

Pair  smoothing  irons 15 

1  Dozen  pewter  plates I  10 

2  Pewter  dishes 17  6 

Dutch  oven  and  cule,  weighing  15  Ibs...  15 

Small  iron  kettle  and  cule.weighing  12  Ibs.  12 

Tool  adds IO 

Hand  saw 5 

One-inch  auger 6 

Three-quarter  auger 4                  6 

Half- inch  auger 3 

Drawing-knife •  3 

Currying-knife IO 

Currier's  knife  and  barking-iron 6 

Old  smooth-bar  gun IO 

Rifle  gun 55 

Rifle  gun 3            10 

2  Pott  trammels 14 

i  Feather  bed  and  furniture 5            10 

Ditto 8             5 

i  Bed  and  turkey  feathers  and  furniture...  i            10 

Steeking-iron I                   6 

Candle-stick I                  6 

I  Axe 9 

£68  i6s  6d 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  his  widow 
moved  from  Jefferson  county  to  Washington  county.  Here 
the  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  who  inherited  nearly  all  of  the  large 
estate,  became  a  well-to-do  and  popular  citizen.  The  deed- 
book  of  Washington  county  contains  a  number  of  records  of 
lands  bought  and  sold  by  him.  At  one  time  he  was  sheriff 
of  his  county  and  according  to  a  tradition  of  his  descend- 
ants a  member  of  the  Kentucky  legislature.  His  name  is  not 


6  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

to  be  found  however  in  the  fullest  collection  of  journals  oi 
the  Kentucky  legislature  which  exists,  that  of  Dr.  R.  T. 
Durett  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Mordecai  Lincoln  is  re- 
membered especially  for  his  sporting  tastes,  his  bitter  hatred 
of  the  Indians  and  his  ability  as  a  story-teller.  He  remained 
in  Kentucky  until  late  in  life,  when  he  removed  to  Hancock 
County,  Illinois. 

Of  Josiah,  the  second  son,  we  know  very  little  more  than 
that  the  records  show  that  he  owned  and  sold  land.  He  left 
Kentucky  when  a  young  man,  to  settle  on  the  Blue  river,  in 
Harrison  County,  Indiana,  and  there  he  died.  The  two 
daughters  married  into  well-known  Kentucky  families;  the 
elder,  Mary,  marrying  Ralph  Crume;  the  younger,  Nancy, 
William  Brumfield. 

The  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  saddest  for  the  young- 
est of  the  children,  a  lad  of  ten  years  at  the  time,  named 
Thomas,  for  it  turned  him  adrift  to  become  a  "  wandering 
laboring-boy  "  before  he  had  learned  even  to  read.  Thomas 
seems  not  to  have  inherited  any  of  the  father's  estate,  and 
from  the  first  to  have  been  obliged  to  shift  for  himself.  For 
several  years  he  supported  himself  by  rough  farm  work  of 
all  kinds,  learning,  in  the  meantime,  the  trade  of  carpenter 
and  cabinet-maker.  According  to  one  of  his  acquaintances, 
"  Tom  had  the  best  set  of  tools  in  what  was  then  and  now 
Washington  County,"  and  was  "  a  good  carpenter  for  those 
days,  when  a  cabin  was  built  mainly  with  the  axe,  and  not  a 
nail  or  bolt-hinge  in  it;  only  leathers  and  pins  to  the  door, 
and  no  glass."  Although  a  skilled  craftsman  for  his  day, 
he  never  became  a  thrifty  or  ambitious  man.  "  He  would 
work  energetically  enough  when  a  job  was  brought  to  him, 
but  he  would  never  seek  a  job."  But  if  Thomas  Lincoln 
plied  his  trade  spasmodically,  he  sfiared  the  pioneer's  love  for 
land,  for  when  but  twenty-five  years  old,  and  still  without 
the  responsibility  of  a  family,  he  bought  a  farm  in  Hardio 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY  J 

County,  Kentucky.  This  fact  is  of  importance,  proving  as  it 
does  that  Thomas  Lincoln  was  not  the  altogether  shiftless 
man  he  has  been  pictured.  Certainly  he  must  have  been 
above  the  grade  of  the  ordinary  country  boy,  to  have  had  the 
energy  and  ambition  to  learn  a  trade  and  secure  a  farm 
through  his  own  efforts  by  the  time  he  was  twenty- five.  He 
was  illiterate,  never  doing  more  "  in  the  way  of  writing 
than  to  bunglingly  write  his  own  name."  Nevertheless,  he 
had  the  reputation  in  the  country  of  being  good-natured  and 
obliging,  and  possessing  what  his  neighbors  called  "  good 
strong  horse-sense."  Although  he  was  a  "  very  quiet  sort 
of  a  man,"  he  was  known  to  be  determined  in  his  opinions, 
and  quite  competent  to  defend  his  rights  by  force  if  they  were 
too  flagrantly  violated.  He  was  a  moral  man,  and,  in  the 
crude  way  of  the  pioneer,  religious. 

In  1806  Thomas  Lincoln  married.  The  early  history  of 
his  wife,  Nancy  Hanks,  has  been  until  recently  obscured  by 
contradictory  traditions.  The  compilation  of  the  genealogy 
of  the  Hanks  family  in  America,  which  has  been  completed 
by  Mrs.  Caroline  Hanks  Hitchcock,  though  not  yet  printed, 
has  fortunately  cleared  up  the  mystery  of  her  birth.  Ac- 
cording to  the  records  which  Mrs.  Hitchcock  has  gathered 
and  a  brief  summary  of  which  she  has  published  in  a  valuable 
little  volume  called  "  Nancy  Hanks,"  the  family  to  which 
Thomas  Lincoln's  wife  belonged  first  came  to  this  country  in 
1699  and  settled  in  Plymouth,  Massachusetts. 

This  early  settler,  Benjamin  Hanks,  had  eleven  children, 
one  of  whom,  William,  went  to  Virginia,  settling  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Rappahannock  river.  William  Hanks  had  five 
sons,  four  of  whom,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, moved  to  Amelia  County,  Virginia,  where,  according 
to  old  deeds  unearthed  by  Mrs.  Hitchcock,  they  owned  nearly 
a  thousand  acres  of  land.  Joseph  Hanks,  the  youngest  of 
these  sons,  married  Nancy  Shiplev.  This  Miss  Shipley  was 


B  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Rachel  Shipley  of  Lurenburg 
County,  Virginia,  and  a  sister  of  Mary  Shipley,  who  married 
Abraham  Lincoln  of  Rockingham  County,  and  who  was  the 
mother  of  Thomas  Lincoln. 

About  1789  Joseph  Hanks  and  a  large  number  of  his  rela- 
tives in  Amelia  County  moved  into  Kentucky,  where  he  set- 
tled near  what  is  now  Elizabethtown.  He  remained  here 
until  his  death  in  1793.  Joseph  Hanks's  will  may  still  be  seen 
in  the  county  records  of  Bardstown.  He  leaves  to  each  of  his 
sons  a  horse,  to  each  of  his  daughters  a  "  heifer  yearling," 
though  these  bequests,  as  well  as  the  "  whole  estate  "  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  was  to  be  the  property  of  his 
wife  during  her  life,  when  it  was  to  be  divided  equally 
among  all  the  children. 

Soon  after  Joseph  Hanks's  death  his  wife  died  and  the 
family  was  scattered.  The  youngest  of  the  eight  children  left 
fatherless  and  motherless  by  the  death  of  Joseph  Hanks  and 
his  wife  was  a  little  girl  called  Nancy.  She  was  but  nine 
years  old  at  the  time  and  a  home  was  found  for  her  with  her 
aunt,  Lucy  Shipley,  wife  of  Richard  Berry,  who  had  a  farm 
in  Washington  county,  near  Springfield.  Nancy  had  a  large 
number  of  relatives  near  there,  all  of  whom  had  come  from 
Virginia  with  her  father.  The  little  girl  grew  up  into  a 
sweet-tempered  and  beautiful  woman  whom  tradition  paints 
not  only  as  the  center  of  all  the  country  merry-making  but  as 
a  famous  spinner  and  housewife. 

It  was  probably  at  the  house  of  Richard  Berry  that 
Thomas  Lincoln  met  Nancy  Hanks,  for  he  doubtless  spent 
more  or  less  time  nearby  with  his  oldest  brother,  Mordecai 
Lincoln,  who  was  a  resident  of  Washington  County  and  a 
friend  and  neighbor  of  the  Berry's.  He  may  have  seen  her, 
too,  at  the  home  of  her  brother,  Joseph  Hanks,  in  Elizabeth- 
town.  This  Joseph  Hanks  was  a  carpenter  and  had  in- 
herited the  old  home  of  the  family  and  it  was  with  him  that 


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MAP  OF  NEW  SALEM,   ILLINOIS. 

Drawn  for  this  biography  by  J.  McCann  Davis,  aided  by  surviving  inhabitants 
of  New  Salem.  Dr.  John  Allen,  who  lived  across  the  road  from  Berry  &  Lincoln's 
store,  attended  Ann  Rutledge  in  her  last  illness.  None  of  the  buildings  are  in 
existence  to-day. 


10  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Thomas  Lincoln  learned  his  trade.  At  all  events,  the  two 
cousins  became  engaged  and  on  June  10,  1806,  their  mar- 
riage bond  was  issued  according  to  the  law  of  the  time. 
Two  days  later  according  to  the  marriage  returns  of  the  Rev- 
erend Jesse  Head,  they  were  married, — a  fact  duly  attested 
also  by  the  marriage  certificate  made  out  by  the  officiating 
minister. 

The  marriage  took  place  at  the  home  of  Richard  Berry, 
near  Beechland  in  Washington  County,  Kentucky.  It  was 
celebrated  in  the  boisterous  style  of  one  hundred  years  ago, 
and  was  followed  by  an  infare,  given  by  the  bride's  guardian. 
To  this  celebration  came  all  the  neighbors,  and,  according 
to  an  entertaining  Kentucky  centenarian,  Dr.  Christopher 
Columbus  Graham,  even  those  who  happened  in  the  neigh- 
borhood were  made  welcome.  He  tells  how  he  heard  of  the 
wedding  while  "  out  hunting  for  roots/'  and  went  "  just  to 
get  a  good  supper.  I  saw  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  at  her  wed- 
ding/' continues  Mr.  Graham,  "  a  fresh  looking  girl,  I  should 
say  over  twenty.  I  was  at  the  infare,  too,  given  by  John  H. 
Parrott,  her  guardian — and  only  girls  with  money  had 
guardians  appointed  by  the  court.  We  had  bearmeat ;  .  .  . 
venison;  wild  turkey  and  ducks;  eggs,  wild  and  tame,  so 
common  that  you  could  buy  them  at  two  bits  a  bushel ;  maple 
sugar,  swung  on  a  string,  to  bite  off  for  coffee  or  whiskey ; 
syrup  in  big  gourds ;  peach-and-honey ;  a  sheep  that  the  two 
families  barbecued  whole  over  coals  of  wood  burned  in  a 
pit,  and  covered  with  green  boughs  to  keep  the  juice  in;  and 
a  race  for  the  whiskey  bottle." 

After  his  marriage  Thomas  Lincoln  settled  in  Elizabeth- 
town.  His  home  was  a  log  cabin,  but  at  that  date  few  peo- 
ple in  the  state  had  anything  else.  Kentucky  had  been  in  the 
union  only  fourteen  years.  When  admitted,  the  few  brick 
structures  within  its  boundaries  were  easily  counted,  and 
there  were  only  log  school-houses  and  churches.  Fourteen 


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EKTURN  OP  MARRIAGE  OP  THOMAS  LINCOLN  AND  NANCY  HANKS. 

From  a  tracing  of  the  original,  made  by  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland.    This  certificate  was  discovered  about 
1885  by  W.  F.  Booker,  Esq.,  Clerk  of  Washington  County,  Kentucky. 


ORIGIN  OP  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY          13 

years  had  brought  great  improvements,  but  the  majority  of 
the  population  still  lived  in  log  cabins,  so  that  the  home  of 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  as  good  as  most  of  his  neighbors.  Lit- 
tle is  known  of  his  position  in  Elizabethtown,  though  we  have 
proof  that  he  had  credit  in  the  community,  for  the  descend- 
ants of  two  of  the  early  store-keepers  still  remember  seeing 
on  their  grandfathers'  account  books  sundry  items  charged 
to  T.  Lincoln.  Tools  and  groceries  were  the  chief  purchases 
he  made,  though  on  one  of  the  ledgers  a  pair  of  "  silk  sus- 
penders," worth  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  was  entered.  He 
not  only  enjoyed  a  certain  credit  with  the  people  of  Eliza- 
bethtown ;  he  was  sufficiently  respected  by  the  public  authori- 
ties to  be  appointed  in  1816  a  road  surveyor,  or,  as  the  office 


«^<£O  £*&  ey&*&  "t&Cu* 
Sjfte+Jg/ 

FACSIMILE  OF  THE  APPOINTMENT  OF  THOMAS  LINCOLN  AS  ROAD  SURVEYOR. 

is  known  in  some  localities,  supervisor.  It  was  not,  to  be 
sure,  a  position  of  great  importance,  but  it  proved  that  he  was 
considered  fit  to  oversee  a  body  of  men  at  a  task  of  consider- 
able value  to  the  community.  Indeed,  all  of  the  documents 
mentioning  Thomas  Lincoln  which  have  been  discovered 
show  him  to  have  had  a  much  better  position  in  Hardin 
county  than  he  has  been  credited  with. 

It  was  at  Elizabethtown  that  the  first  child  of  the  Lincolns, 
a  daughter,  was  born.  Soon  after  this  event  Thomas  Lin- 
coln decided  to  combine  farming  with  his  trade,  and  moved 


14  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

to  the  farm  he  had  bought  in  1803  on  the  Big  South  fork  of 
Nolin  creek,  in  Hardin  County,  now  La  Rue  County,  three 
miles  from  Hodgensville,  and  about  fourteen  miles  from 
Elizabethtown.  Here  he  was  living  when,  on  February  12, 
1809,  his  second  child,  a  boy,  was  born.  The  little  new- 
comer was  called  Abraham,  after  his  grandfather — a  name 
which  had  persisted  through  many  preceding  generations  in 
both  the  Lincoln  and  Hanks  families. 

The  home  into  which  the  child  came  was  the  ordinary  one 
of  the  poorer  western  pioneer — a  one-roomed  cabin  with  a 
huge  outside  chimney,  a  single  window,  and  a  rude  door. 
The  description  of  its  squalor  and  wretchedness,  which  are 
so  familiar,  have  been  overdrawn.  Dr.  Graham,  than  whom 
there  is  no  better  authority  on  the  life  of  that  day,  and  who 
knew  Thomas  Lincoln  well,  declares  energetically  that  "It  is 
all  stuff  about  Tom  Lincoln  keeping  his  wife  in  an  open  shed 
in  a  winter.  The  Lincolns  had  a  cow  and  calf,  milk  and 
butter,  a  good  feather  bed — for  I  have  slept  on  it.  They  had 
home- woven  'kiverlids,'  big  and  little  pots,  a  loom  and  wheel. 
Tom  Lincoln  was  a  man  and  took  care  of  his  wife." 

The  Lincoln  home  was  undoubtedly  rude,  and  in  many 
ways  uncomfortable,  but  it  sheltered  a  happy  family,  and  its 
poverty  affected  the  new  child  but  little.  He  grew  to  be 
robust  and  active  and  soon  learned  how  endless  are  the  de- 
lights and  interests  the  country  offers  to  a  child.  He  had 
several  companions.  There  was  his  sister  Nancy,  or  Sarah 
— both  names  are  given  her — two  years  his  senior ;  there  was 
a  cousin  of  his  mother's,  ten  years  older,  Dennis  Friend 
(commonly  called  Dennis  Hanks),  an  active  and  ingenious 
leader  in  sports  and  mischief ;  and  there  were  the  neighbors' 
boys.  One  of  the  latter,  Austin  Gollaher,  lived  to  be  over 
ninety  years  of  age  and  to  his  death  related  with  pride 
how  he  played  with  young  Lincoln  in  the  shavings  of  his 


ORIGIN  OP  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY          15 

father's  carpenter  shop,  hunted  coons  and  ran  the  woods  with 
him,  and  once  even  saved  his  life. 

"  Yes,"  Mr.  Gollaher  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  the  story 
that  I  once  saved  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  is  true.  He  and  I 
had  been  going  to  school  together  for  a  year  or  more,  and 
had  become  greatly  attached  to  each  other.  Then  school  dis- 
banded on  account  of  there  being  so  few  scholars,  and  we  did 
not  see  each  other  much  for  a  long  while.  One  Sunday  my 
mother  visited  the  Lincolns,  and  I  was  taken  along.  Abe 
and  I  played  around  all  day.  Finally,  we  concluded  to  cross 
the  creek  to  hunt  for  some  partridges  young  Lincoln  had  seen 
the  day  before.  The  creek  was  swollen  by  a  recent  rain,  and, 
in  crossing  on  the  narrow  footlog,  Abe  fell  in.  Neither  of 
us  could  swim.  I  got  a  long  pole  and  held  it  out  to  Abe,  who 
grabbed  it.  Then  I  pulled  him  ashore.  He  was  almost 
dead,  and  I  was  badly  scared.  I  rolled  and  pounded  him  in 
good  earnest.  Then  I  got  him  by  the  arms  and  shook  him, 
the  water  meanwhile  pouring  out  of  his  mouth.  By  this 
means  I  succeeded  in  bringing  him  to,  and  he  was  soon  all 
right. 

"  Then  a  new  difficulty  confronted  us.  If  our  mothers 
discovered  our  wet  clothes  they  would  whip  us.  This  we 
dreaded  from  experience,  and  determined  to  avoid.  It  was 
June,  the  sun  was  very  warm,  and  we  soon  dried  our  clothing 
by  spreading  it  on  the  rocks  about  us.  We  promised  never 
to  tell  the  story,  and  I  never  did  until  after  Lincoln's  tragic 
end." 

When  the  little  boy  was  about  four  years  old  the  first  real 
excitement  of  his  life  occurred.  His  father  moved  from  the 
farm  on  Nolin  creek  to  another  some  fifteen  miles  northeast 
on  Knob  creek,  and  here  the  child  began  to  go  to  school.  At 
that  day  the  schools  in  the  west  were  usually  accidental,  de- 
pending upon  the  coming  of  some  poor  and  ambitious  young 
man  who  was  willing  to  teach  a  few  terms  while  he  looked 
for  an  opening  to  something  better.  The  terms  were  ir- 
regpular,  their  length  being  decided  by  the  time  the  settlers 


16  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

felt  able  to  board  the  master  and  pay  his  small  salary.  The 
chief  qualifications  for  a  school-master  seem  to  have  been 
enough  strength  to  keep  the  "  big  boys  "  in  order,  though 
one  high  authority  affirms-  that  pluck  went  "  for  a  heap  sight 
more'n  sinnoo  with  boys." 

Many  of  the  itinerant  masters  were  Catholics,  strolling 
Irishmen  from  the  colony  in  Tennessee,  or  French  priests 
from  Kaskaskia.  Lincoln's  first  teacher,  Zachariah  Riney, 
was  a  Catholic.  Of  his  second  teacher,  Caleb  Hazel,  we  know 
even  less  than  of  Riney.  Mr.  Gollaher  says  that  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  those  days  when  he  was  his  schoolmate,  was  "  an 
unusually  bright  boy  at  school,  and  made  splendid  progress 
in  his  studies.  Indeed,  he  learned  faster  than  any  of  his 
schoolmates.  Though  so  young,  he  studied  very  hard.  He 
would  get  spicewood  bushes,  hack  them  up  on  a  log,  and 
burn  them  two  or  three  together,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
light  by  which  he  might  pursue  his  studies." 

Probably  the  boy's  mother  had  something  to  do  with  the 
spice-wood  illuminations.  Tradition  has  it  that  Mrs.  Lincoln 
took  great  pains  to  teach  her  children  what  she  knew,  and 
that  at  her  knee  they  heard  all  the  Bible  lore,  fairy  tales,  and 
country  legends  that  she  had  been  able  to  gather  in  her  poor 
life. 

Besides  the  "A  B  C  schools,"  as  Lincoln  called  them,  the 
only  other  medium  of  education  in  the  country  districts  of 
Kentucky  in  those  days  was  "preaching."  Itinerants  like  the 
school-masters,  the  preachers,  of  whatever  denomination, 
were  generally  uncouth  and  illiterate ;  the  code  of  morals  they 
taught  was  mainly  a  healthy  one,  and  they,  no  doubt,  did 
much  to  keep  the  consciences  of  the  pioneers  awake.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  that  they  ever  did  much  for  the  moral  training 
of  young  Lincoln,  though  he  certainly  got  his  first  notion  of 
public  speaking  from  them ;  and  for  years  in  his  boyhood  one 
of  his  chief  delights  was  to  gather  his  playmates  about  him, 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY          If 

and  preach  and  thump  until  he  had  his  auditors  frightened 
or  in  tears. 

As  soon  as  the  child  was  strong  enough  to  follow  his  father 
in  the  fields,  he  was  put  to  work  at  simple  tasks ; — bringing 
tools,  carrying  water,  picking  berries,  dropping  seeds.  He 
learned  to  know  his  father's  farm  from  line  to  line  and  years 
after,  when  President  of  the  United  States,  he  recalled  in  a 
conversation  at  the  White  House,  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  J.  J. 
Wright  of  Emporia,  Kansas,  the  arrangement  of  the  fields 
and  an  incident  of  his  own  childish  experience  as  a  farmer's 
son.  "  Mr.  President/'  one  of  the  visitors  had  asked,  "  how 
would  you  like  when  the  war  is  over  to  visit  your  old  home 
in  Kentucky  ?  "  "  I  would  like  it  very  much,"  Mr.  Lin- 
coln replied.  "  I  remember  that  old  home  very  well.  Our 
farm  was  composed  of  three  fields.  It  lay  in  the  valley  sur- 
rounded by  high  hills  and  deep  gorges.  Sometimes  when 
there  came  a  big  rain  in  the  hills  the  water  would  come  down 
through  the  gorges  and  spread  all  over  the  farm.  The  last 
thing  that  I  remember  of  doing  there  was  one  Saturday 
afternoon ;  the  other  boys  planted  the  corn  in  what  we  called 
the  big  field;  it  contained  seven  acres — and  I  dropped  the 
pumpkin  seed.  I  dropped  two  seeds  every  other  hill  and 
every  other  row.  The  next  Sunday  morning  there  came  a 
big  rain  in  the  hills,  it  did  not  rain  a  drop  in  the  valley,  but 
the  water  coming  down  through  the  gorges  washed  ground, 
corn,  pumpkin  seeds  and  all  clear  off  the  field." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  LINCOLNS  LEAVE  KENTUCKY  FOR  SOUTHERN  INDIANA 
—CONDITIONS   OF*  LIFE   IN   THEIR  NEW   HOME 

IN  1816  a  great  event  happened  to  the  little  boy.  His 
father  emigrated  from  Knob  creek  to  Indiana.  "  This  re- 
moval was  partly  on  account  of  slavery,  but  chiefly  on  ac- 
count of  the  difficulty  in  land  titles  in  Kentucky,"  says  his 
son.  It  was  due,  as  well,  no  doubt,  to  the  fascination  which  an 
unknown  country  has  always  for  the  adventurous,  and  to  that 
restless  pioneer  spirit  which  drives  even  men  of  sober  judg- 
ment continually  towards  the  frontier,  in  search  of  a  place 
where  the  conflict  with  nature  is  less  severe — some  spot 
farther  on,  to  which  a  friend  or  a  neighbor  has  preceded,  and 
from  which  he  sends  back  glowing  reports.  It  may  be  that 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  tempted  into  Indiana  by  the  reports  of 
his  brother  Joseph,  who  had  settled  on  the  Big  Blue  river  in 
that  State.  At  all  events,  in  the  fall  of  1816  he  started  with 
wife  and  children  and  household  stores  to  journey  by  horse- 
back and  by  wagon  from  Knob  creek  to  a  farm  selected  on  a 
previous  trip  he  had  made.  This  farm,  located  near  Little 
Pigeon  creek,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  the  Ohio  river,  and 
a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Gentryville,  Spencer  County,  was  in 
a  forest  so  dense  that  the  road  for  the  travellers  had  to  be 
hewed  out  as  they  went. 

To  a  boy  of  seven  years,  free  from  all  responsibility,  and 
too  vigorous  to  feel  its  hardships,  such  a  journey  must  have 
been  a  long  delight  and  wonder.  Life  suddenly  ceased  its 
routine,  and  every  day  brought  forth  new  scenes  and  adven- 
tures. Little  Abraham  saw  forests  greater  than  he  had  ever 

18 


LEAVE   KENTUCKY   FOR  INDIANA  19 

dreamed  of,  peopled  by  strange  birds  and  beasts,  and  he 
crossed  a  river  so  wide  that  it  must  have  seemed  to  him  like 
the  sea.  To  Thomas  and  Nancy  Lincoln  the  journey  was 
probably  a  hard  and  sad  one ;  but  to  the  children  beside  them 
it  was  a  wonderful  journey  into  the  unknown. 

On  arriving  at  the  new  farm  an  axe  was  put  into  the  boy's 
hands,  and  he  was  set  to  work  to  aid  in  clearing  a  field  for 
X>rn,  and  to  help  build  the  "  half-face  camp  "  which  for  a 
year  was  the  home  of  the  Lincolns.  There  were  few  more 
primitive  homes  in  the  wilderness  of  Indiana  in  1816  than 
this  of  young  Lincoln,  and  there  were  few  families,  even  in 
that  day,  who  were  forced  to  practice  more  make-shifts  to 
get  a  living.  The  cabin  which  took  the  place  of  the  "  half- 
face  camp  "  had  but  one  room,  with  a  loft  above.  For  a 
long  time  there  was  no  window,  door,  or  floor ;  not  even  the 
traditional  deer-skin  hung  before  the  exit;  there  was  no 
oiled  paper  over  the  opening  for  light;  there  was  no  pun- 
cheon covering  on  the  ground. 

The  furniture  was  of  their  own  manufacture.  The  table 
and  chairs  were  of  the  rudest  sort — rough  slabs  of  wood  in 
which  holes  were  bored  and  legs  fitted  in.  Their  bedstead,  or, 
rather  bed-frame,  was  made  of  poles  held  up  by  two  outer 
posts,  and  the  ends  made  firm  by  inserting  the  poles  in  auger- 
holes  that  had  been  bored  in  a  log  which  was  a  part  of  the 
wall  of  the  cabin ;  skins  were  its  chief  covering.  Little  Abra- 
ham's bed  was  even  more  primitive.  He  slept  on  a  heap  of 
dry  leaves  in  the  corner  of  the  loft,  to  which  h?  mounted  by 
means  of  pegs  driven  into  the  wall. 

Their  food,  if  coarse,  was  usually  abundant ;  the  chief  diffi- 
culty in  supplying  the  larder  was  to  secure  any  variety.  ,  Of 
game  there  was  plenty — deer,  bear,  pheasants,  wild  turkeys, 
ducks,  birds  of  all  kinds.  There  were  fish  in  the  streams,  and 
wild  fruits  of  many  kinds  in  the  woods  in  the  summer,  and 
these  were  dried  for  winter  use ;  but  the  difficulty  of  raising 


20  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

and  milling  corn  and  wheat  was  very  great.  Indeed,  in- many 
places  in  the  west  the  first  flour  cake  was  an  historical  event 
Corn-dodger  was  the  every-day  bread  of  the  Lincoln  house- 
hold, the  wheat  cake  being  a  dainty  reserved  for  Sunday 
mornings. 

Potatoes  were  the  only  vegetable  raised  in  any  quantity, 
and  there  were  times  in  the  Lincoln  family  when  they  were 
the  only  food  on  the  table ;  a  fact  proved  to  posterity  by  the 
oft-quoted  remark  of  Abraham  to  his  father  after  the  latter 
had  asked  a  blessing  over  a  dish  of  roasted  potatoes — "  that 
they  were  mighty  poor  blessings."  Not  only  were  they  all 
the  Lincolns  had  for  dinner  sometimes;  one  of  their  neigh- 
bors tells  of  calling  there  when  raw  potatoes,  pared  and 
washed,  were  passed  around  instead  of  apples  or  other  fruit. 
They  even  served  as  a  kind  of  pioneer  chauffrette — being 
baked  and  given  to  the  children  to  carry  in  their  hands  as 
they  started  to  school  or  on  distant  errands  in  winter  time. 

The  food  was  prepared  in  the  rudest  way,  for  the  supply  of 
both  groceries  and  cooking  utensils  was  limited.  The  for- 
mer were  frequently  wanting  entirely,  and  as  for  the  latter, 
the  most  important  item  was  the  Dutch  oven.  An  indis- 
pensable article  in  the  primitive  kitchen  outfit  was  the  "  grit- 
ter."  It  was  made  by  flattening  out  an  old  piece  of  tin 
punching  it  full  of  holes,  and  nailing  it  on  a  board.  Upon 
this  all  sorts  of  things  were  grated,  even  ears  of  corn,  in 
which  slow  way,  enough  meal  was  sometimes  secured  for 
bread.  Old  tin  was  used  for  many  other  contrivances  be- 
sides the  "  gritter,"  and  every  scrap  was  carefully  saved. 
Most  of  the  dishes  were  of  pewter;  the  spoons,  iron;  the 
knives  and  forks  horn-handled. 

The  Lincolns  of  course  made  their  own  soap  and  candles, 
and  if  they  'had  cotton  or  wool  to  wear  they  had  literally  to 
grow  it.  It  is  probable  that  young  Abraham  Lincoln  wore 
little  cotton  or  linsey-woolsey.  His  trousers  were  of  roughly 
tanned  deer-skin,  his  foot-covering  a  home-made  moccasin. 

House  of  Studies 
library 


LEAVE  KENTUCKY  FOR  INDIANA  21 

his  cap  a  coon-skin;  it  was  only  the  material  for  his  blouse  or 
shirt  that  was  woven  at  home.  If  this  costume  had  some  ob- 
vious disadvantages,  it  was  not  to  be  despised.  So  good  an 
authority  as  Governor  Reynolds  says  of  one  of  its  articles — 
the  linsey-woolsey  shirt — "  It  was  an  excellent  garment.  I 
have  never  felt  so  happy  and  healthy  since  I  put  it  off." 

These  "pretty  pinching  times,"  as  Abraham  Lincoln  once 
described  the  early  days  in  Indiana,  lasted  until  1819.  The 
year  before  Nancy  Lincoln  had  died,  and  for  many  months 
no  more  forlorn  place  could  be  conceived  than  this  pioneer 
home  bereft  of  its  guiding  spirit;  but  finally  Thomas  Lincoln 
went  back  to  Kentucky  and  returned  with  a  new  wife — Sally 
Bush  Johnston,  a  widow  with  three  children,  John,  Sarah, 
and  Matilda.  The  new  mother  came  well  provided  with 
household  furniture,  bringing  many  things  unfamiliar  to  lit- 
tle Abraham — "one  fine  bureau,  one  table,  one  set  of  chairs, 
one  large  clothes-chest,  cooking  utensils,  knives,  forks,  bed- 
ding, 3nd  other  articles."  She  was  a  woman  of  energy, 
thrift,  and  gentleness,  and  at  once  made  the  cabin  home-like 
and  taught  the  children  habits  of  cleanliness  and  comfort. 

Abraham  was  ten  years  old  when  his  new  mother  came 
from  Kentucky,  and  he  was  already  an  important  member 
of  the  family.  He  was  remarkably  strong  for  his  years,  and 
the  work  he  could  do  in  a  day  was  a  decided  advantage  to 
Thomas  Lincoln.  The  axe  which  had  been  put  into  his  hand 
to  help  in  making  the  first  clearing,  he  had  never  been  al- 
lowed to  drop;  indeed,  as  he  says  himself,  "  from  that  till 
within  his  twenty-third  year  he  was  almost  constantly  hand- 
ling that  most  useful  instrument."  Besides,  he  drove  the 
team,  cut  the  elm  and  linn  brush  with  which  the  stock  was 
often  fed,  learned  to  handle  the  old  shovel-plough,  to  wield 
the  sickle,  to  thresh  the  wheat  with  a  flail,  to  fan  and  clean  it 
with  a  sheet,  to  go  to  mill  and  turn  the  hard-earned  grist 
into  flour.  In  short,  he  learned  all  the  trades  the  settler's 

House  of  Studies 
tibraiy 


22  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

boy  must  know,  and  so  well  that  when  his  father  did  not 
need  him  he  could  hire  him  to  the  neighbors.  Thomas 
Lincoln  also  taught  him  the1  rudiments  of  carpentry  and 
cabinet-making,  and  kept  him  busy  much  of  the  time  as  his 
assistant  in  his  trade.  There  are  houses  still  standing,  in 
and  near  Gentryville,  on  which  it  is  said  he  worked. 

As  he  grew  older  he  became  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
popular  "  hands  "  in  the  vicinity,  and  much  of  his  time  was 
spent  as  a  "  hired  boy  "  on  some  neighbor's  farm.  For 
twenty-five  cents  a  day — paid  to  his  father — he  was  hostler, 
ploughman,  wood-chopper,  and  carpenter,  besides  helping 
the  women  with  the  "  chores."  For  them  he  was  ready  to 
carry  water,  make  the  fire,  even  tend  the  baby.  No  wonder 
that  a  laborer  who  never  refused  to  do  anything  asked  of 
him,  who  could  "  strike  with  a  maul  heavier  blows  "  and 
"  sink  an  axe  deeper  into  the  wood  "  than  anybody  else  in 
the  community,  and  who  at  the  same  time  was  general  help 
for  the  women,  never  lacked  a  job  in  Gentryville. 

Of  all  the  tasks  his  rude  life  brought  him,  none  seems  to 
have  suited  him  better  than  going  to  the  mill.  .  It  was,  per- 
haps, as  much  the  leisure  enforced  by  this  trip  as  anything 
else  that  attracted  him.  The  machinery  was  primitive,  and 
each  man  waited  his  turn,  which  sometimes  was  long  in  com- 
ing. A  story  is  told  by  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois  of  go- 
ing many  miles  with  a  grist,  and  waiting  so  long  for  his  turn, 
that  when  it  came,  he  and  his  horse  had  eaten  all  the  corn 
and  he  had  none  to  grind.  This  waiting  with  other  men 
and  boys  on  like  errands  gave  an  opportunity  for  talk, 
story-telling,  and  games,  which  were  Lincoln's  delight. 

If  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  was  rough  and  hard  it  was 
not  without  amusements.  At  home  the  rude  household  was 
overflowing  with  life.  There  were  Abraham  and  his  sister, 
a  stepbrother  and  two  stepsisters,  and  a  cousin  of  Nancy 


By  permission,  from  HerndonandWeik's"  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 
Copyrisrht  1892.  by  D.  Aoulecon  &U>> 


LEAVE  KENTUCKY  FOR  INDIANA  25 

Hanks  Lincoln,  Dennis  (Friend)  Hanks,  whom  misfortune 
had  made  an  inmate  of  the  Lincoln  home — quite  enough 
to  plan  sports  and  mischief  and  keep  time  from  growing  dull. 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  Dennis  Hanks  were  both  famous  story- 
tellers, and  the  Lincolns  spent  many  a  cozy  evening  about 
their  cabin  fire,  repeating  the  stories  they  knew. 

Of  course  the  boys  hunted.  Not  that  Abraham  ever  became 
a  true  sportsman ;  indeed,  he  seems  to  have  lacked  the  genu- 
ine sporting  instinct.  In  a  curious  autobiography,  written 
entirely  in  the  third  person,  which  Lincoln  prepared  at  the 
request  of  a  friend  in  1860,  he  says  of  his  exploits  as  a 
hunter:  "A  few  days  before  the  completion  of  his  eighth 
year,  in  the  absence  of  his  father,  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys  ap- 
proached the  new  log  cabin;  and  Abraham  with  a  rifle  gun, 
standing  inside,  shot  through  a  crack  and  killed  one  of  them. 
He  has  never  since  pulled  the  trigger  on  any  larger  game." 
This  exploit  is  confirmed  by  Dennis  Hanks,  who  says :  "No 
doubt  about  A.  Lincoln's  killing  the  turkey.  He  done  it  with 
his  father's  rifle,  made  by  William  Lutes  of  Bullitt  county, 
Kentucky.  I  have  killed  a  hundred  deer  with  her  myself ;  tur- 
keys too  numerous  to  mention." 

But  there  were  many  other  country  sports  which  he  en- 
joyed to  the  full.  He  went  swimming  in  the  evenings ;  fished 
with  the  other  boys  in  Pigeon  creek,  wrestled,  jumped,  and 
ran  races  at  the  noon  rests.  He  was  present  at  every  country 
horse-race  and  fox-chase.  The  sports  he  preferred  were 
those  which  brought  men  together;  the  spelling-school,  the 
husking-bee ;  the  "raising;"  and  of  all  these  he  was  the  life  by 
his  wit,  his  stories,  his  good  nature,  his  doggerel  verses,  his 
practical  jokes,  and  by  a  rough  kind  of  politeness — for  even 
in  Indiana  in  those  times  there  was  a  notion  of  politeness, 
and  one  of  Lincoln's  school-masters  had  given  "lessons  in 
manners."  Lincoln  seems  to  have  profited  in  a  degree  by 
them;  for  Mrs.  Crawford,  at  whose  home  he  worked  for 


26  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

some  time,  declares  that  he  always  "lifted  his  hat  and  bowed" 
when  he  made  his  appearance. 

There  was,  of  course,  a  rough  gallantry  among  the  young 
people;  and  Lincoln's  old  comrades  and  friends  in  Indiana 
have  left  many  tales  of  how  he  "went  to  see  the  girls,"  of  how 
he  brought  in  the  biggest  back-log  and  made  the  brightest 
fire;  of  how  the  young  people,  sitting  around  it,  watch- 
ing the  way  the  sparks  flew,  told  their  fortunes.  He  helped 
pare  apples,  shell  corn  and  crack  nuts.  He  took  the  girls  to 
meeting  and  to  spelling-school,  though  he  was  not  often  alt 
lowed  to  take  part  in  the  spelling-match,  for  the  one  who 
"chose  first"  always  chose  "Abe  Lincoln,"  and  that  was 
equivalent  to  winning,  as  the  others  knew  that  "he  would 
stand  up  the  longest." 

The  nearest  approach  to  sentiment  at  this  time,  of  which 
we  know,  is  recorded  in  a  story  Lincoln  once  told  to  an  ac- 
quaintance in  Springfield.  It  was  a  rainy  day,  and  he  was  sit- 
ting with  his  feet  on  the  window-sill,  his  eyes  on  the  street, 
watching  the  rain.  Suddenly  he  looked  up  and  said : 

"Did  you  ever  write  out  a  story  in  your  mind  ?  I  did  when 
I  was  a  little  codger.  One  day  a  wagon  with  a  lady  and  two 
girls  and  a  man  broke  down  near  us,  and  while  they  were 
fixing  up,  they  cooked  in  our  kitchen.  The  woman  had  books 
and  read  us  stories,  and  they  were  the  first  I  had  ever  heard. 
I  took  a  great  fancy  to  one  of  the  girls ;  and  when  they  were 
gone  I  thought  of  her  a  great  deal,  and  one  day  when  I  was 
sitting  out  in  the  sun  by  the  house  I  wrote  out  a  story  in  my 
mind.  I  thought  I  took  my  father's  horse  and  followed  the 
wagon,  and  finally  I  found  it,  and  they  were  surprised  to  see 
me.  I  talked  with  the  girl  and  persuaded  her  to  elope  with 
me ;  and  that  night  I  put  her  on  my  horse,  and  we  started  off 
across  the  prairie.  After  several  hours  we  came  to  a  camp; 
and  when  we  rode  up  we  found  it  was  the  one  we  had  left  a 
few  hours  before,  and  we  went  in.  The  next  night  we  tried 
again,  and  the  same  thing  happened — the  horse  came  back  to 
the  same  place ;  and  then  we  concluded  that  we  ought  not  to 


LEAVE  KENTUCKY  FOR  INDIANA  27 

elope.  I  stayed  until  I  had  persuaded  her  father  to  give  her 
to  trie.  I  always  meant  to  write  that  story  out  and  publish  it, 
and  I  began  once ;  but  I  concluded  that  it  was  not  much  of  a 
story.  But  I  think  that  was  the  beginning  'of  love  with  me." 

His  life  had  its  tragedies  as  well  as  its  touch  of  romance — 
tragedies  so  real  and  profound  that  they  gave  dignity  to  all 
the  crudeness  and  poverty  which  surrounded  him,  and  quick- 
ened and  intensified  the  melancholy  temperament  which  he 
inherited  from  his  mother.  Away  back  in  1816,  when 
Thomas  Lincoln  had  started  to  find  a  farm  in  Indiana,  bid- 
ding his  wife  be  ready  to  go  into  the  wilderness  on  his  re- 
turn, Nancy  Lincoln  had  taken  her  boy  and  girl  to  a  tiny 
grave,  that  of  her  youngest  child;  and  the  three  had  there 
said  good-by  to  a  little  one  whom  the  children  had  scarcely 
known,  but  for  whom  the  mother's  grief  was  so  keen  that  the 
boy  never  forgot  the  scene. 

Two  years  later  he  saw  his  father  make  a  green  pine  box 
and  put  his  dead  mother  into  it,  and  he  saw  her  buried  not 
far  from  their  cabin,  almost  without  prayer.  Young  as  he 
was,  it  was  his  efforts,  it  is  said,  which  brought  a  parson 
from  Kentucky,  three  months  later,  to  preach  the  sermon  and 
conduct  the  service  which  seemed  to  the  child  a  necessary 
honor  to  the  dead.  As  sad  as  the  death  of  his  mother  was 
that  of  his  only  sister,  Sarah.  Married  to  Aaron  Grigsby  in 
1826,  she  had  died  a  year  and  a  half  later  in  child-birth,  a 
death  which  to  her  brother  must  have  seemed  a  horror  and  a 
mystery. 

Apart  from  these  family  sorrows  there  was  all  the  crime 
and  misery  of  the  community — all  of  which  came  to  his  ears 
and  awakened  his  nature.  He  even  saw  in  those  days  one  of 
his  companions  go  suddenly  mad.  The  young  man  never  re- 
covered his  reason  but  sank  into  idiocy.  All  night  he  would 
croon  plaintive  songs,  and  Lincoln  himself  tells  how,  fasci 
nated  by  this  mysterious  malady,  he  used  to  rise  before  day 


28  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

light  to  cross  the  fields  to  listen  to  this  funeral  dirge  of  the 
reason.  In  spite  of  the  poverty  and  rudeness  of  his  life  the 
depths  of  his  nature  were  unclouded.  He  could  feel  intensely, 
and  his  imagination  was  quick  to  respond  to  the  touch  of 
mystery 


CHAPTER  El 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S    EARLY    OPPORTUNITIES — THE    BOOKS 

HE     READ TRIPS     TO     NEW     ORLEANS IMPRESSION     HE 

MADE   ON    HIS   FRIENDS 

WITH  all  his  hard  living  and  hard  work,  Lincoln  was  get- 
ting, in  this  period,  a  desultory  kind  of  education.  Not  that 
he  received  much  schooling.  He  went  to  school  "  by  littles," 
he  says;  "in  all  it  did  not  amount  to  more  than  a  year."  And, 
if  we  accept  his  own  description  of  the  teachers,  it  was,  per- 
haps, just  as  well  that  it  was  only  "  by  littles."  No  qualifica- 
tion was  required  of  a  teacher  beyond  "  reading  writin/  and 
cipherin'  to  the  rule  of  three."  If  a  straggler  supposed  to 
know  Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood,  he  was 
looked  upon  as  a  "wizard."  But  more  or  less  of  a  school-room 
is  a  matter  of  small  importance  if  a  boy  has  learned  to  read, 
and  to  think  of  what  he  reads.  And  that,  this  boy  had  learned. 
His  stock  of  books  was  small,  but  he  knew  them  thoroughly, 
and  they  were  good  books  to  know;  the  Bible,  "^Esop's  Fa- 
bles," "Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim  Progress,"  a 
"History  of  the  United  States,"  Weems's  "Life  of  Washing- 
ton," and  the  "Statutes  of  Indiana."*  These  are  the  chief 

*The  first  authorized  sketch  of  Lincoln's  life  was  written  by  the  late 
John  L.  Scripps  of  the  Chicago  "  Tribune,"  who  went  to  Springfield  at 
Mr.  Lincoln's  request,  and  by  him  was  furnished  the  data  for  a  campaign 
biography.  In  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Herndon  after  the  death  of  Lin- 
coln, which  Herndon  turned  over  to  me,  Scripps  relates  that  in  writing 
his^  book  he  stated  that  Lincoln  as  a  youth  read  Plutarch's  "  Lives." 
This  he  did  simply  because,  as  a  rule,  every  boy  in  the  West  in  the  early 
days  did  read  Plutarch.  When  the  advance  sheets  of  the  book  reached 
Air.  Lincoln,  he  sent  for  the  author  and  said,  gravely :  "  That  paragraph 
wherein  you  state  that  I  read  Plutarch's  '  Lives '  was  not  true  when  you 
wrote  it,  for  up  to  that  moment  in  my  life  I  had  never  seen  that  early 
contribution  to  human  history;  but  I  want  your  book,  even  if  it  JS 

29 


30  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ones  we  know  about.  Some  of  these  books  he  borrowed  from 
the  neighbors ;  a  practice  which  resulted  in  at  least  one  casu- 
alty, for  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington"  he  allowed  to  get 
wet,  and  to  make  good  the  loss  he  had  to  pull  fodder  three 
days.  No  matter.  The  book  became  his  then,  and  he  could 
read  it  as  he  would.  Fortunately  he  took  this  curious  work  in 
profound  seriousness,  which  a  wide-awake  boy  would  hardly 
be  expected  to  do  to-day.  Washington  became  an  exalted 
figure  in  his  imagination;  and  he  always  contended  later, 
when  the  question  of  the  real  character  of  the  first  President 
was  brought  up,  that  it  was  wiser  to  regard  him  as  a  god- 
like being,  heroic  in  nature  and  deeds,  as  Weems  does,  than 
to  contend  that  he  was  only  a  man  who,  if  wise  and  good, 
still  made  mistakes  and  was  guilty  of  follies,  like  other  men. 
Besides  these  books  he  borrowed  many  others.  He  once 
told  a  friend  that  he  "read  through  every  book  he  had  ever 
heard  of  in  that  country,  for  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles/'  From 
everything  he  read  he  made  long  extracts,  with  his  turkey- 
buzzard  pen  and  brier-root  ink.  When  he  had  no  paper  he 
would  write  on  a  board,  and  thus  preserve  his  selections  un- 
til he  secured  a  copybook.  The  wooden  fire-shovel  was  his 
usual  slate,  and  on  its  back  he  ciphered  with  a  charred  stick 
shaving  it  off  when  it  had  become  too  grimy  for  use.  The 
logs  and  boards  in  his  vicinity  he  covered  with  his  figures 
and  quotations.  By  night  he  read  and  worked  as  long  as 
there  was  light,  and  he  kept  a  book  in  the  crack  of  the  logs  in 
his  loft,  to  have  it  at  hand  at  peep  of  day.  When  acting  as 
ferryman  on  the  Ohio,  in  his  nineteenth  year,  anxious,  no 
doubt,  to  get  through  the  books  of  the  house  where  he 
boarded,  before  he  left  the  place,  he  read  every  night  until 
midnight. 

nothing  more  than  a  campaign  sketch,  to  be  faithful  to  the  facts ;  and 
in  order  that  the  statement  might  be  literally  true,  J  secured  the  book  a 
few  weeks  ago,  and  have  sent  for  you  to  tell  you  that  I  have  just  read 
it  through."— Jesse  W.  Weik. 


tn 


§ 

o 


<* 

<a<3> 

OCil 


to  o 

O    O 
^     Q 


o^  ^     o 

*«*- 


a 


2 


FRAGMENT  FROM   A  LEAF   IN   LINCOLN'S   EXERCISE-BOOK. 


32  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Every  lull  in  his  daily  labor  he  used  for  reading,  rarely 
going  to  his  work  without  a  book.  When  ploughing  or  culti- 
vating the  rough  fields  of  Spencer  county,  he  found  fre- 
quently a  half  hour  for  reading,  for  at  the  end  of  every  long 
row  the  horse  was  allowed  to  rest,  and  Lincoln  had  his  book 
out  and  was  perched  on  stump  or  fence,  almost  as  soon  as  the 
plough  had  come  to  a  standstill.  One  of  the  few  people  still 
left  in  Gentryville  who  remembers  Lincoln,  Captain  John 
Lamar,  tells  to  this  day  of  riding  to  mill  with  his  father,  and 
seeing,  as  they  drove  along,  a  boy  sitting  on  the  top  rail  of  an 
old-fashioned  stake-and-rider  worm  fence,  reading  so  in- 
tently that  he  did  not  notice  their  approach.  His  father  turn- 
ing to  him,  said :  "John,  l°°k  at  tnat  k°y  yonder,  and  mark 
my  words,  he  will  make  a  smart  man  out  of  himself.  I  may 
not  see  it,  but  you'll  see  if  my  words  don't  come  true."  "That 
boy  was  Abraham  Lincoln,"  adds  Mr.  Lamar  impressively. 

In  his  habits  o-f  reading  and  study  the  boy  had  little  en- 
couragement from  his  father,  but  his  stepmother  did  all  she 
could  for  him.  Indeed,  between  the  two  there  soon  grew  up  a 
relation  of  touching  gentleness  and  confidence.  In  one  of  the 
interviews  a  biographer  of  Mr.  Lincoln  sought  with  her  be- 
fore her  death,  Mrs.  Lincoln  said : 

"I  induced  my  husband  to  permit  Abe  to  read  and  study  at 
home,  as  well  as  at  school.  At  first  he  was  not  easily  recon- 
ciled to  it,  but  finally  he  too  seemed  willing  to  encourage  him 
to  a  certain  extent.  Abe  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always,  and 
we  took  particular  care  when  he  was  reading  not  to  disturb 
him — would  let  him  read  on  and  on  till  he  quit  of  his  own 
accord."  This  consideration  of  his  stepmother  won  the  boy's 
confidence,  and  he  rarely  copied  anything  that  he  did  not  take 
it  to  her  to  read,  asking  her  opinion  of  it;  and  often,  when 
she  did  not  understand  it,  explaining  the  meaning  in  his  plain 
and  simple  language. 

Among  the  books  which  fell  into  young  Lincoln's  hand 


EARLY  OPPORTUNITIES  $3 

when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old  was  a  copy  of  the 
"Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana."*  We  know  from  Den- 
nis Hanks  and  from  Mr.  Turnham  of  Gentryville,  to 
whom  the  book  belonged,  and  from  other  associates  of 
Lincoln  at  the  time,  that  he  read  the  book  intently  and 
discussed  its  contents  intelligently.  It  was  a  remarkable 
volume  for  a  thoughtful  lad  whose  mind  had  already 
been  fired  by  the  history  of  Washington.  It  opened 
with  that  wonderful  document,  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, following  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  Act  of  Virginia  passed 
in  1783  by  which  the  "Territory  North  Westward  of  the 
river  Ohio"  was  conveyed  to  the  United  States,  and  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  for  governing  this  territory,  containing  that 
clause  on  which  Lincoln  in  the  future  based  many  an  argu- 
ment on  the  slavery  question.  This  article,  No.  6  of  the  Ordi- 
nance, reads:  "There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involun- 
tary servitude  in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the 
punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted:  provided  always,  that  any  person  escaping  into 
the  same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in 
any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully 
reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  la- 
bor or  service,  as  aforesaid." 


*The  book  was  owned  by  Mr.  David  Turnham  of  Gentryville,  and  was 
given  by  him  in  1865  to  Mr.  Herndon,  who  placed  it  in  the  Lincoln 
Memorial  collection  of  Chicago.  In  December,  1894,  this  collection  was 
sold  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  "Statutes  of  Indiana"  was  bought  by  Mr. 
William  Hoffman  Winters,  Librarian  of  the  New  York  Law  Institute, 
where  it  now  may  be  seen.  The  book  is  worn,  the  title  page  is  gone, 
and  a  few  leaves  from  the  end  are  missing.  The  title  page  of  a  duplicate 
volume  reads:  "The  Revised  Laws  of  Indiana,  adopted  and  enacted  by 
the  General  Assembly  at  their  eighth  session.  To  which  are  prefixed  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  sundry  other  documents  con- 
nected with  the  Political  History  of  the  Territory  and  State  of  Indiana 
Arranged  and  published  by  authority  of  the  General  Assembly.  Cory- 
ion  :  Printed  by  Carpenter  and  Douglass,  1824." 

(3) 


34  WFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Following  this  was  the  Constitution  and  the  Revised  Laws 
of  Indiana,  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  pages,  of  five  hun- 
dred words  each,  of  statutes.  When  Lincoln  finished 
this  book,  as  he  had,  probably,  before  he  was  eighteen,  we 
have  reason  to  believe  that  he  understood  the  principles  on 
which  the  nation  was  founded,  how  the  State  of  Indiana 
came  into  being,  and  how  it  was  governed.  His  understand- 
ing of  the  subject  was  clear  and  practical,  and  he  applied  it  in 
his  reading,  thinking,  and  discussion.  After  he  had  read  the 
Statutes  of  Indiana,  Lincoln  had  free  access  to  the  library  of 
an  admirer,  Judge  John  Pitcher  of  Rockport,  Indiana, 
where  he  examined  many  books. 

Although  so  far  away  from  the  center  of  the  world's  activ- 
ity, he  was  learning  something  of  current  history.  One  man 
in  Gentryville,  Mr.  Jones,  the  storekeeper,  took  a  Louisville 
paper,  and  here  Lincoln  went  regularly  to  read  and  discuss 
its  contents.  All  the  men  and  boys  of  the  neighborhood 
gathered  there,  and  everything  which  the  paper  printed  was 
subjected  to  their  keen,  shrewd  common  sense.  It  was  not 
long  before  young  Lincoln  became  the  favorite  member  of 
the  group,  the  one  listened  to  most  respectfully.  Politics  were 
warmly  discussed  by  these  Gentryville  citizens,  and  it  may 
be  that  sitting  on  the  counter  of  Jones's  grocery,  Lincoln  even 
argued  on  slavery.  It  certainly  was  one  of  the  live  questions 
in  Indiana  at  that  date. 

For  several  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Territory, 
and  in  spite  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  a  system  of  thinly  dis- 
guised slavery  had  existed ;  and  it  took  a  sharp  struggle  to 
bring  the  State  in  without  some  form  of  the  institution.  So 
uncertain  was  the  result  that,  when  decided,  the  word  passed 
from  mouth  to  mouth  all  over  Hoosierdom,  "She  has  come  in 
free,  she  has  come  in  free!"  Even  in  1820,  four  years  after 
the  admission  to  Statehood,  the  census  showed  one  hundred 
and  ninety  slaves,  nearly  all  of  them  in  the  southwest  corner, 


EARLY  OPPORTUNITIES  35 

where  the  Lincolns  lived,  and  it  was  not,  in  reality,  until  1821 
that  the  State  Supreme  Court  put  an  end  to  the  question.  In 
Illinois  in  1822-1824  there  was  carried  on  one  of  the  most 
violent  contests  between  the  friends  and  opponents  of  slavery 
which  occurred  before  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise. The  effort  to  secure  slave  labor  was  nearly  successful. 
In  the  campaign,  pamphlets  pro  and  con  literally  inundated 
the  State ;  the  pulpits  took  it  up ;  and  "almost  every  stump  in 
every  county  had  its  bellowing,  indignant  orator."  So  violent 
a  commotion  so  near  at  hand  could  hardly  have  failed 
to  reach  Gentryville. 

There  had  been  other  anti-slavery  agitation  going  on 
within  hearing  for  several  years.  In  1804  a  number  of  Baptist 
ministers  of  Kentucky  started  a  crusade  against  the  institu- 
tion, which  resulted  in  a  hot  contest  in  the  denomination,  and 
the  organization  of  the  "Baptist  Licking-Locust  Association 
Friends  of  Humanity."  The  Rev.  Jesse  Head,  the  minister 
who  married  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  talked 
freely  and  boldly  against  slavery;  and  one  of  their  old 
friends,  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  the  man  who  was 
present  at  their  wedding,  says :  "Tom  and  Nancy  Lincoln  and 
Sally  Bush  were  just  steeped  full  of  Jesse  Head's  notions 
about  the  wrong  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  man  -as  ex- 
plained by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Thomas  Paine."  In  1806 
Charles  Osborne  began  to  preach  "immediate  emancipation" 
in  Tennessee.  Ten  years  later  he  started  a  paper  in  Ohio, 
devoted  to  the  same  idea,  and  in  1819  he  transferred  his  cru- 
sade to  Indiana.  In  1821  Benjamin  Lundy  started,  in  Ten- 
nessee, the  famous  "Genius,"  devoted  to  the  same  doctrine; 
and  in  1822,  at  Shelby ville,  only  about  one  hundred  miles 
from  Gentryville,  was  started  a  paper  similar  in  its  views, 
the  "Abolition  Intelligencer." 

At  that  time  there  were  in  Kentucky  five  or  six  abolition 
societies,  and  in  Illinois  was  an  organization  called  the 


3<5  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

"Friends  of  Humanity."  Probably  young  Lincoln  heard  but 
vaguely  of  these  movements ;  but  of  some  of  them  he  must 
have  heard,  and  he  must  have  connected  them  with  the 
"Speech  of  Mr.  Pitt  on  the  Slave  Trade;"  with  Merry's 
elegy,  "The  Slaves,"  and  with  the  discussion  given  in  his 
"Kentucky  Preceptor,"  "Which  has  the  Most  to  Complain 
of,  the  Indian  or  the  Negro  ?"  all  of  which  tradition  declares 
he  was  fond  of  repeating.  It  is  not  impossible  that,  as  Freder- 
ick Douglas  first  realized  his  own  condition  in  reading  a 
school-speaker,  the  "Columbian  Orator,"  so  Abraham  Lin- 
coln first  felt  the  wrong  of  slavery  in  reading  his  "  Ken- 
tucky "  or  "American  Preceptor." 

Lincoln  was  not  only  winning  in  these  days  in  the  Jones 
grocery  store  a  reputation  as  a  talker  and  a  story-teller;  he 
was  becoming  known  as  a  kind  of  backwoods  orator.  He 
could  repeat  with  effect  all  the  poems  and  speeches  in  his  vari- 
ous sdhool  readers,  he  could  imitate  to  perfection  the  wander- 
ing preachers  who  came  to  Gentryville,  and  he  could  make  a 
political  speech  so  stirring  that  he  drew  a  crowd  about  him 
every  time  he  mounted  a  stump.  The  applause  he  won  was 
sweet;  and  frequently  he  indulged  his  gifts  when  he  ought 
to  have  been  working — so  thought  his  employers  and 
Thomas,  his  father.  It  was  trying,  no  doubt,  to  the  hard- 
pushed  farmers,  to  see  the  men  who  ought  to  have  been  cut- 
ting grass  or  chopping  wood  throw  down  their  scythes  or 
axes  and  group  around  a  boy,  whenever  he  mounted  a  stump 
to  develop  a  pet  theory  or  repeat  with  variations  yesterday's 
sermon.  In  his  fondness  for  speech-making  young  Lincoln 
attended  all  the  trials  of  the  neighborhood,  and  frequently 
walked  fifteen  miles  to  Boonville  to  attend  court. 

He  wrote  as  well  as  spoke,  and  some  of  his  productions 
were  printed,  through  the  influence  of  his  admiring  neigh- 
bors. Thus  a  local  Baptist  preacher  was  so  struck  with  one 
of  Abraham's  essays  on  temperance  that  he  sent  it  to  Ohio, 


EARIA  OPPORTUNITIES  37 

where  it  is  said  to  have  appeared  in  a  newspaper.  Another 
article  on  "National  Politics,"  so  pleased  a  lawyer  of  the 
vicinity  that  he  declared  the  "world  couldn't  beat  it." 

In  considering  the  different  opportunities  for  development 
which  the  boy  had  at  this  time  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
he  spent  many  months  at  one  time  or  another  on  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  rivers.  In  fact,  all  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
saw  of  men  and  the  world  outside  of  Gentryville  and  its 
neighborhood,  until  after  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  he 
saw  on  these  rivers.  For  many  years  the  Ohio*  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi were  the  Appian  Way,  the  one  route  to  the  world  for 
the  western  settlers.  To  preserve  it  they  had  been  willing 
in  early  times  to  go  to  war  with  Spain  or  with  France,  to  se- 
cede from  the  Union,  even  to  join  Spain  or  France  against 
the  United  States  if  either  country  would  insure  their  right  to 
the  highway.  In  the  long  years  in  which  the  ownership  of 
the  great  river  was  unsettled,  every  man  of  them  had  come  to 
feel  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  "a  neighbor  might  as  well  ask 
me  to  sell  my  street  door."  In  fact,  this  water-way  was  their 
"street  door,"  and  all  that  many  of  them  ever  saw  of  the 
world  passed  here.  Up  and  down  the  rivers  was  a  con- 
tinual movement.  Odd  craft  of  every  kind  possible  on  a 
river  went  by:  "arks"  and  "sleds,"  with  tidy  cabins 
where  families  lived,  and  where  one  could  see  the  washing 
stretched,  the  children  playing,  the  mother  on  pleasant  days 
rocking  and  sewing;  keel-boats,  which  dodged  in  and  out 
and  turned  inquisitive  noses  up  all  the  creeks  and  bayous; 
great  fleets  from  the  Alleghanies,  made  up  of  a  score  or  more 
of  timber  rafts,  and  manned  by  forty  or  fifty  rough  boatmen ; 
"Orleans  boats,"  loaded  with  flour,  hogs,  produce  of  all 
kinds;  pirogues,  made  from  great  trees;  "broad-horns;" 
curious  nondescripts  worked  by  a  wheel;  and,  after  1812, 
steamboats. 

All  this  traffic  was  leisurelv.     Men  had  time  to  tie  up  and 


38  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

tell  the  news  and  show  their  wares.  Even  the  steamboats 
loitered  as  it  pleased  them.  They  knew  no  schedule.  They 
stopped  anywhere  to  let  passengers  off.  They  tied  up 
Wherever  it  was  convenient,  to  wait  for  fresh  wood  to  be  cut 
and  loaded,  or  for  repairs  to  be  made.  Waiting  for  repairs, 
seems,  in  fact,  to  have  absorbed  a  great  deal  of  the  time  of 
these  early  steamers.  They  were  continually  running  onto 
"sawyers,"  or  "planters/'  or  "wooden  islands,"  and  they 
blew  up  with  a  regularity  which  was  monotonous.  Even 
as  late  as  1842,  when  Charles  Dickens  made  the  trip  down 
the  Mississippi,  he  was  often  gravely  recommended  to  keep 
as  far  aft  as  possible,  "because  the  steamboats  generally  blew 
up  forward." 

With  this  varied  river  life  Abraham  Lincoln  first  came 
into  contact  as  a  ferryman  and  boatman,  when  in  1826  he 
spent  several  months  as  a  ferryman  at  the  mouth  of  Ander- 
son creek,  where  it  joins  the  Ohio.  This  experience  sug- 
gested new  possibilities  to  him.  It  was  a  custom  among  the 
farmers  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  at  this  date  to  collect  a 
quantity  of  produce,  and  float  down  to  New  Orleans  on  a 
raft,  to  sell  it.  Young  Lincoln  saw  this,  and  wanted  to  try 
his  fortune  as  a  produce  merchant.  An  incident  of  his  pro- 
jected trip  he  related  once  to  Mr.  Seward : 

"Seward,"  he  said,  "did  you  ever  hear  how  I  earned  my 
first  dollar?" 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Seward. 

"Well,"  replied  he,  "I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and  belonged,  as  you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  south  the 
'scrubs ;'  people  who  do  not  own  land  and  slaves  are  no- 
body there ;  but  we  had  succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly  by  my 
labor,  sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify  me  in  taking 
it  down  the  river  to  sell.  After  much  persuasion  I  had  got 
the  consent  of  my  mother  to  go,  and  had  constructed  a  flat- 
boat  large  enough  to  take  the  few  barrels  of  things  we  had 
gathered  to  New  Orleans.  A  steamer  was  going  down  the 


EARLY   OPPORTUNITIES  39 

river.  We  have,  you  know,  no  wharves  on  the  western 
streams,  and  the  custom  was,  if  passengers  were  at  any  of 
the  landings  they  were  to  go  out  in  a  boat,  the  steamer  stop- 
ping, and  taking  them  on  board.  I  was  contemplating  my 
new  boat,  and  wondering  whether  I  could  make  it  stronger 
or  improve  it  in  any  part,  when  two  men  with  trunks  came 
down  to  the  shore  in  carriages,  and  looking  at  the  different 
boats,  singled  out  mine,  and  asked,  'Who  owns  this  ?  '  I 
answered  modestly,  'I  do.1  'Will  you/  said  one  of  them, 
'take  us  and  our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer  ?  '  'Certainly/ 
said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  earning  some- 
thing, and  supposed  that  each  of  them  would  give  me  a 
couple  of  bits.  The  trunks  were  put  in  my  boat,  the  pas- 
sengers seated  themselves  on  them,  and  I  sculled  them  out 
to  the  steamer.  They  got  on  board,  and  I  lifted  the  trunks 
and  put  them  on  the  deck.  The  steamer  was  about  to  put 
on  steam  again,  when  I  called  out,  'You  have  forgotten  to 
pay  me/  Each  of  them  took  from  his  pocket  a  silver  half- 
dollar  and  threw  it  on  the  bottom  of  my  boat.  I  could 
scarcely  believe  my  eyes  as  I  picked  up  the  money.  You 
may  think  it  was  a  very  little  thing,  and  in  these  days  it  seems 
to  me  like  a  trifle,  but  it  was  a  most  important  incident  in 
my  life.  I  could  scarcely  credit  that  I,  the  poor  boy,  had 
earned  a  dollar  in  less  than  a  day;  that  by  honest  work  I 
had  earned  a  dollar.  I  was  *>  more  hopeful  and  thoughtful 
boy  from  that  time/' 

Soon  after  this,  while  he  was  working  for  Mr.  Gentry, 
the  leading  citizen  of  Gentryville,  his  employer  decided  to 
send  a  load  oi:  produce  to  New  Orleans,  and  chose  young 
Lincoln  to  go  as  "bow-hand,"  "to  work  the  front  oars." 
For  this  trip  he  received  eight  dollars  a  month  and  his  pas- 
sage back.  Who  can  believe  that  he  could  see  and  be  part 
of  this  river  life  without  learning  much  of  the  ways  and 
thoughts  of  the  world  beyond  him  ?  Every  time  a  steamboat 
or  a  raft  tied  up  near  Anderson  creek  and  he  with  his  com- 
panions boarded  it  and  saw  its  mysteries  and  talked  with  its 
crew,  every  time  he  rowed  out  with  passengers  to  a  passing 


4.0  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

steamer,  who  can  doubt  that  he  came  back  with  new  ideas 
and  fresh  energy?  The  trips  to  New  Orleans  were,  to  a 
thoughtful  boy,  an  education  of  no  mean  value.  It  was  the 
most  cosmopolitan  and  brilliant  city  of  the  United  States  at 
that  date,  and  there  young  Lincoln  saw  life  at  its  intensest. 

Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  in  Indiana;  such  were 
the  avenues  open  to  him  for  study  and  for  seeing  the  world. 
In  spite  of  the  crudeness  of  it  all ;  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  no  wise  direction,  that  he  was  brought  up  by  a  father 
with  no  settled  purpose,  and  that  he  lived  in  a  pioneer  com- 
munity, where  a  young  man's  life  at  best  is  but  a  series  of 
makeshifts,  Lincoln  soon  developed  a  determination  to  make 
something  out  of  himself,  and  a  desire  to  know,  which  led 
him  to  neglect  no  opportunity  to  learn. 

The  only  unbroken  outside  influence  which  directed  and 
stimulated  him  in  these  ambitions  was  that  coming  first  from 
his  mother,  then  from  his  stepmother.  These  two  women, 
both  of  them  of  unusual  earnestness  and  sweetness  of  spirit, 
were  one  or  the  other  of  them  at  his  side  throughout  his 
youth  and  young  manhood.  The  ideal  they  held  before  him 
was  the  simple  ideal  of  the  early  American,  that  if  a  boy  is 
upright  and  industrious  he  may  aspire  to  any  place  within 
the  gift  of  the  country.  The  boy's  instinct  told  him  they 
were  right.  Everything  he  read  confirmed  their  teachings, 
and  he  cultivated,  in  every  way  open  to  him,  his  passion  to 
know  and  to  be  something.  His  zeal  in  study,  his  ambition 
to  excel  made  their  impression  on  his  acquaintances.  Even 
then  they  pointed  him  out  as  a  boy  who  would  "make  some- 
thing" of  himself.  In  1865,  thirty-five  years  after  he  left 
Gentryville,  Wm.  H.  Herndon,  for  many  years  a  law  part- 
ner of  Lincoln,  anxious  to  save  all  that  was  known  of  Lin- 
coln in  Indiana,  went  among  his  old  associates,  and  with  a 
sincerity  and  thoroughness  worthy  of  grateful  respect,  inter- 
viewed them.  At  that  time  there  were  still  living  numbers 


EARLY  OPPORTUNITIES  41 

of  the  people  with  whom  Lincoln  had  been  brought  up. 
They  all  remembered  something  of  him.  It  is  curious  to 
note  that  all  of  these  people  tell  of  his  doing  something  dif- 
ferent from  what  other  boys  did,  something  sufficiently  su- 
perior to  have  made  a  keen  impression  upon  them.  In  almost 
every  case  each  person  had  his  own  special  reason  for  ad- 
miring Lincoln.  A  facility  in  making  rhymes  and  writing 
essays  was  the  admiration  of  many,  who  considered  it  the 
more  remarkable  because  "essays  and  poetry  were  not  taught 
in  school,"  and  "Abe  took  it  up  on  his  own  account." 

Many  others  were  struck  by  the  clever  application  he  made 
of  this  gift  for  expression.  At  one  period  he  was  employed 
as  a  "hand"  by  a  farmer  who  treated  him  unfairly.  Lincoln 
took  a  revenge  unheard  of  in  Gentry ville.  He  wrote  dog- 
gerel rhymes  about  his  employer's  nose — a  long  and  crooked 
feature  about  which  the  owner  was  very  sensitive.  The  wit 
he  showed  in  taking  revenge  for  a  social  slight  by  a  satire 
on  the  Grigsbys,  who  had  failed  to  invite  him  to  a  wedding, 
made  a  lasting  impression  in  Gentryville.  That  he  should 
write  so  well  as  to  be  able  to  humiliate  his  enemies  more 
deeply  than  if  he  had  resorted  to  the  method  of  taking  re- 
venge current  in  the  country,  and  thrashed  them,  seemed  to 
his  friends  a  mark  of  surprising  superiority. 

His  schoolmates  all  remembered  his  spelling.  He  stood 
at  the  head  of  his  class  invariably  and  at  the  spelling-matches 
in  which  the  young  people  of  the  neighborhood  passed  many 
an  evening  the  one  who  first  began  "choosing  sides"  always 
chose  "Abe  Lincoln."  So  often  did  he  spell  the  school  down 
that  finally,  tradition  says,  he  was  no  longer  allowed  to  take 
part  in  the  matches. 

Very  many  of  his  old  neighbors  recalled  his  reading  habits 
and  how  well  stored  his  mind  was  with  information.  His 
explanations  of  natural  phenomena  were  so  unfamiliar  to 
his  companions  that  he  sometimes  was  jeered  at  for  them. 


42  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

though  as  a  rule  his  listeners  were  sympathetic,  taking  a 
certain  pride  in  the  fact  that  one  of  their  number  knew  as 
much  as  Lincoln  did.  "He  was  better  read  than  the  world 
knows  or  is  likely  to  know  exactly/'  said  one  old  acquaint- 
ance. "He  often  and  often  commented  or  talked  to  me  about 
what  he  had  read  —  seemed  to  read  it  out  of  the  book  as  he 
went  along  —  did  so  with  others.  He  was  the  learned  boy 
among  us  unlearned  folks.  He  took  great  pains  to  explain  ; 
could  do  it  so  simply.  He  was  diffident,  then,  too." 

One  man  was  impressed  by  the  character  of  the  sentences 
Lincoln  had  given  him  for  a  copybook.  "It  was  considered  at 


?tiA  fc*&s\s^Qj  ^xi^v«y 


V 


FACSIMILE  OP  LINES  FROM  LINCOLN'S  COPY  BOOK. 

that  time,"  said  he,  "that  Abe  was  the  best  penman  in  the 
neighborhood.  One  day,  While  he  was  on  a  visit  ait  my 
mother's,  I  asked  him  to  write  some  copies  for  me.  He  very 
willingly  consented.  He  wrote  several  of  them,  but  one  of 
them  I  have  never  forgotten,  although  a  boy  at  that  time.  It 

was  this  : 

"  '  Good  boys  who  to  their  books  apply 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  by.1  " 

His  wonderful  memory  was  recalled  by  many.  To  save 
that  which  he  found  to  his  liking  in  the  books  he  borrowed 
Lincoln  committed  much  to  memory.  He  knew  many  long 
poems,  and  most  of  the  selections  in  the  "Kentucky  Precep- 


EARLY  OPPORTUNITIES  43 

tor."    By  the  time  he  was  twenty-one,  in  fact,  his  mind  was 
well  stored  with  verse  and  prose. 

All  of  his  comrades  remembered  his  stories  and  his  clear- 
ness in  argument.  "  When  he  appeared  in  company,"  says 
Nat  Grigsby,  "the  boys  would  gather  and  cluster  around  him 
to  hear  him  talk.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  figurative  in  his  speech, 
talks,  and  conversation.  He  argued  much  from  analogy, 
and  explained  things  hard  for  us  to  understand  by  stories, 
maxims,  tales,  and  figures.  He  would  almost  always  point 
his  lesson  or  idea  by  some  story  that  was  plain  and  near  us, 
that  we  might  instantly  see  the  force  and  bearing  of  what  he 
said."  This  ability  to  explain  clearly  and  to  illustrate  by 
simple  figures  of  speech  must  be  counted  as  the  great  mental 
acquirement  of  Lincoln's  boyhood.  It  was  a  power  which  he 
gained  by  hard  labor.  Years  later  he  related  his  experience 
to  an  acquaintance  who  had  been  surprised  by  the  lucidity 
and  simplicity  of  his  speeches  and  who  had  asked  where 
he  was  educated. 

"I  never  went  to  school  more  than  six  months  in 
my  life,"  he  said,  "but  I  can  say  this:  that  among  my 
earliest  recollections  I  remember  how,  when  a  mere  child, 
I  used  to  get  irritated  when  anybody  talked  to  me  in  a  way  I 
could  not  understand.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  got  angry  at 
anything  else  in  my  life ;  but  that  always  disturbed  my  tem- 
per, and  has  ever  since.  I  can  remember  going  to  my  little 
bedroom,  after  hearing  the  neighbors  talk  of  an  evening  with 
my  father,  and  spending  no  small  part  of  the  night  walking 
up  and  down  and  trying  to  make  out  what  was  the  exact 
meaning  of  some  of  their,  to  me,  dark  sayings. 

"I  could  not  sleep,  although  I  tried  to,  when  I  got  on  such 
a  hunt  for  an  idea  until  I  had  caught  it ;  and  when  I  thought 
I  had  got  it,  I  was  not  satisfied  until  I  had  repeated  it  over 
and  over;  until  I  had  put  it  in  language  plain  enough,  as  I 
thought,  for  any  boy  I  knew  to  comprehend.  This  was  a 
kind  of  passion  with  me,  and  it  has  stuck  by  me;  for  I  am 
never  easy  now,  when  I  am  handling  a  thought,  till  I  have 


44  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

bounded  it  north  and  bounded  it  south,  and  bounded  it  east 
and  bounded  it  west." 

Mr.  Herndon  in  his  interviewing  in  Indiana  found  that 
everywhere  Lincoln  was  remembered  as  kind  and  helpful. 
The  man  or  woman  in  trouble  never  failed  to  receive  all  the 
aid  he  could  give  him.  Even  a  worthless  drunkard  of  the 
village  called  him  friend,  as  well  he  might,  Lincoln  having 
gathered  him  up  one  night  from  the  roadside  where  he  lay 
freezing  and  carried  him  on  his  back  a  long  distance  to  a 
shelter  and  a  fire.  The  thoughtless  cruelty  to  animals  so 
common  among  country  children  revolted  the  boy.  He 
wrote  essays  on  "cruelty  to  animals,"  harangued  his  play- 
mates, protested  whenever  he  saw  any  wanton  abuse  of  a 
dumb  creature.  This  gentleness  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  his  mates,  coupled  as  it  was  with  the  physical  strength 
and  courage  to  enforce  his  doctrines.  Stories  of  his  good 
heart  and  helpful  life  might  be  multiplied  but  they  are 
summed  up  in  what  his  stepmother  said  of  the  boy : 

"Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say  what  scarcely  one 
woman — a  mother — can  say  in  a  thousand :  Abe  never  gave 
me  a  cross  word  or  look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact  or  ap- 
pearance, to  do  anything  I  requested  him.  I  never  gave  him 
a  cross  word  in  all  my  life.  .  .  .  His  mind  and  mine — 
what  little  I  had — seemed  to  run  together.  He  was  here 
after  he  was  elected  president.  He  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me 
always.  I  think  he  loved  me  truly.  I  had  a  son,  John,  who 
was  raised  with  Abe.  Both  were  good  boys ;  but  I  must  say, 
both  now  being  dead,  that  Abe  was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw, 
or  expect  to  see." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LINCOLNS  LEAVE  INDIANA THE  JOURNEY  TO  ILLINOIS 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF 

IN  THE  spring  of  1830  when  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
twenty-one  years  old,  his  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  decided  to 
leave  Indiana.  The  reason  Dennis  Hanks  gives  for  this  re- 
moval was  a  disease  called  the  "milk-sick."  Abraham  Lin- 
coln's mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  and  several  of  their 
relatives  who  had  followed  them  from  Kentucky  had  died  of 
it.  The  cattle  had  been  carried  off  by  it.  Neither  brute  nor 
human  life  seemed  to  be  safe.  As  Dennis  Hanks  says : 
"This  was  reason  enough  (ain't  it)  for  leaving?"  Any  one 
who  has  traveled  through  the  portions  of  Spencer  County  in 
which  the  Lincolns  settled  will  respect  Thomas  Lincoln  for 
his  energy  in  moving.  When  covered  with  timber,  as  the 
land  was  when  he  chose  his  farm,  it  no  doubt  promised  well ; 
but  fourteen  years  of  hard  labor  showed  him  that  the  soil 
was  niggardly  and  the  future  of  the  country  unpromising. 
To-day,  sixty-five  years  since  the  Lincolns  left  Spencer 
County,  the  country  remains  as  it  was  then,  dull,  common- 
place, unfruitful.  The  towns  show  no  signs  of  energy  or 
prosperity.  There  are  no  leading  streets  or  buildings;  no 
man's  house  is  better  than  his  neighbor's,  and  every  man's 
house  is  ordinary.  For  a  long  distance  on  each  side  of  Gen- 
tryville  as  one  passes  by  rail,  no  superior  farm  is  to  be  seen, 
no  prosperous  farm  or  manufactory.  It  is  a  dead  monotonous 
country,  where  no  possibilities  of  quick  wealth  have  been  dis- 
covered, and  which  only  centuries  of  tilling  and  fertilizing 
can  make  prosperous. 

45 


46  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

The  place  chosen  for  their  new  home  was  the  Sangamon 
country  in  central  Illinois.  It  was  at  that  day  a  country  of 
great  renown  in  the  West,  the  name  meaning  "The  land 
where  there  is  plenty  to  eat."  One  of  the  family — John 
Hanks,  a  cousin  of  Abraham's  mother — was  already  there, 
and  the  inviting  reports  he  had  sent  to  Indiana  were  no  doubt 
what  led  the  Lincolns  to  decide  on  Illinois  as  their  future 
home.  Gentryville  saw  young  Lincoln  depart  with  genuine 
regret,  and  his  friends  gave  him  a  score  of  rude  proofs  that 
he  would  not  be  forgotten.  After  he  was  gone,  one  of  these 
friends  planted  a  cedar  tree  in  his  memory.  It  still  marks  the 
site  of  the  Lincoln  home — the  first  monument  erected  to  the 
memory  of  a  man  to  whom  the  world  will  never  cease  to  raise 
monuments. 

The  spot  on  the  hill  overlooking  Buckthorne  valley,  where 
the  Lincolns  said  good-by  to  their  old  home  and  to  the  home 
of  Sarah  Lincoln  Grigsby,  to  the  grave  of  the  mother  and 
wife,  to  all  their  neighbors  and  friends,  is  still  pointed  out. 
Buckthorne  valley  held  many  recollections  dear  to  them  all, 
but  to  no  one  of  the  company  was  the  place  dearer  than  to 
Abraham.  It  is  certain  that  he  felt  the  parting  keenly,  and 
that  he  never  forgot  his  years  in  the  Hoosier  State.  One  of 
the  most  touching  experiences  he  relates  in  all  his  published 
letters  is  his  emotion  at  visiting  his  old  Indiana  home  four- 
teen years  after  he  had  left  it.  So  strongly  was  he  moved  by 
the  scenes  of  his  first  conscious  sorrows,  efforts,  joys,  am- 
bitions, that  he  put  into  verse  the  feelings  they  awakened. 

While  he  never  attempted  to  conceal  the  poverty  and  hard- 
ship of  these  days,  and  would  speak  humorously  of  the 
"pretty  pinching  times"  he  experienced,  he  never  regarded 
his  life  at  this  time  as  mean  or  pitiable.  Frequently  he  talked 
to  his  friends  in  later  days  of  his  boyhood,  and  always  with 
apparent  pleasure.  "Mr.  Lincoln  told  this  story  (of  his 
youth)/'  says  Leonard  Swett,  "as  the  story  of  a  happy  child- 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  47 

hood.  There  was  nothing  sad  or  pinched,  and  nothing  of 
want,  and  no  allusion  to  want  in  any  part  of  it.  His  own  de- 
scription of  his  youth  was  that  of  a  happy,  joyous  boyhood. 
It  was  told  with  mirth  and  glee,  and  illustrated  by  pointed 
anecdotes,  often  interrupted  by  his  jocund  laugh." 

And  he  was  right.  There  was  nothing  ignoble  or  mean  in 
this  Indiana  pioneer  life.  It  was  rude,  but  only  with  the 
rudeness  which  the  ambitious  are  willing  to  endure  in  order 
to  push  on  to  a  better  condition  than  they  otherwise  could 
know.  These  people  did  not  accept  their  hardships  apatheti- 
cally. They  did  not  regard  them  as  permanent.  They  were 
only  the  temporary  deprivations  necessary  in  order  to  accom- 
plish what  they  had  come  into  the  country  to  do.  For  this 
reason  they  endured  hopefully  all  that  was  hard.  It  is  worth 
notice,  too,  that  there  was  nothing  belittling  in  their  life;  there 
was  no  pauperism,  no  shirking.  Each  family  provided  for 
its  own  simple  wants,  and  had  the  conscious  dignity  which 
comes  from  being  equal  to  a  situation.  If  their  lives  lacked 
culture  and  refinement,  they  were  rich  in  independence  and 
self-reliance. 

The  company  which  emigrated  to  Illinois  included  the 
family  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  those  of  Dennis  Hanks  and 
Levi  Hall,  married  to  Lincoln's  stepsisters — thirteen  per- 
sons in  all.  They  sold  land,  cattle  and  grain,  and  much  of 
their  household  goods,  and  were  ready  in  March  of  1830  for 
their  journey.  All  the  possessions  which  the  three  families 
had  to  take  with  them  were  packed  into  big  wagons — 
to  which  oxen  were  attached,  and  the  caravan  was  ready. 
The  weather  was  still  cold,  the  streams  were  swollen,  and  the 
roads  were  muddy;  but  the  party  started  out  bravely.  In- 
ured to  hardships,  alive  to  all  the  new  sights  on  their  route, 
every  day  brought  them  amusement  and  adventures,  and  es- 
pecially to  young  Lincoln  the  journey  must  have  been  of  keen 
interest. 


*3  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

He  drove  one  of  the  teams,  he  tells  us,  and,  accord- 
ing to  a  story  current  in  Gentryville,  he  succeeded  in  doing  a 
fair  peddler's  business  on  the  route.  Captain  William  Jones, 
in  whose  father's  store  Lincoln  had  spent  so  many  hours  in 
discussion  and  in  story-telling,  and  for  whom  he  had  worked 
the  last  winter  he  was  in  Indiana,  says  that  before  leaving 
the  State  Abraham  invested  all  his  money,  some  thirty-odd 
dollars,  in  notions.  Though  all  the  country  through  which 
they  expected  to  pass  was  but  sparsely  settled,  he  believed  he 
could  dispose  of  them.  "A  set  of  knives  and  forks  was  the 
largest  item  entered  on  the  bill,"  says  Captain  Jones;  "the 
other  items  were  needles,  pins,  thread,  buttons,  and  other 
little  domestic  necessities.  When  the  Lincolns  reached  their 
new  home  near  Decatur,  Illinois,  Abraham  wrote  back  to  my 
father,  stating  that  he  had  doubled  his  money  on  his  purchases 
by  selling  them  along  the  road.  Unfortunately  we  did  not 
keep  that  letter,  not  thinking  how  highly  we  would  have 
prized  it  in  years  afterwards." 

The  pioneers  were  a  fortnight  OR  their  journey.  All  we 
know  of  the  route  they  took  is  from  a  few  chance  remarks  of 
Lincoln's  to  his  friends  to  the  effect  that  they  passed  through 
Vincennes,  where  he  saw  a  printing-press  for  the  first  time, 
and  through  Palestine,  where  he  saw  a  juggler  performing 
sleight-of-hand  tricks.  They  reached  Macon  County,  their 
new  home,  from  the  south.  Mr.  H.  C.  Whitney  says  that 
once  in  Decatur,  when  he  and  Lincoln  were  passing  the  court- 
house together,  "Lincoln  walked  out  a  few  feet  in  front, 
and,  after  shifting  his  position  two  or  three  times,  said,  as  he 
looked  up  at  the  building,  partly  to  himself  and  partly  to  me : 
'Here  is  the  exact  spot  where  I  stood  by  our  wagon  when 
we  moved  from  Indiana,  twenty-six  years  ago ;  this  isn't  six 
feet  from  the  exact  spot/  ...  He  then  told  me  he  had 
frequently  thereafter  tried  to  locate  the  r^ute  by  which  they 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  49 

had  come,  and  that  he  had  decided  that  it  was  near  the  main 
line  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad." 

The  party  settled  some  ten  miles  west  of  Decatur,  in  Ma- 
con  County.  Here  John  Hanks  had  the  logs  already  cut  for 
their  new  home,  and  Lincoln,  Dennis  Hanks,  and  Hall  soon 
had  a  cabin  erected.  Mr.  Lincoln  says  in  his  short  autobi- 
ography of  1860:  "Here  they  built  a  log  cabin,  into  which 
they  removed,  and  made  sufficient  of  rails  to  fence  ten  acres 
of  ground,  fenced  and  broke  the  ground,  and  raised  a  crop  of 
sown  corn  upon  it  the  same  year.  These  are,  or  are  supposed 
to  be,  the  rails  about  which  so  much  is  being  said  just  now, 
though  these  are  far  from  being  the  first  or  only  rails  ever 
made  by  Abraham."  If  they  were  far  from  being  his  "first 
and  only  rails,"  they  certainly  were  the  most  famous  ones  he 
or  anybody  else  ever  split. 

This  was  the  last  work  Lincoln  did  for  his  father,  for  in 
the  summer  of  that  year  (1830)  he  exercised  the  right  of 
majority  and  started  out  to  shift  for  himself.  When  he  left 
his  home,  he  went  empty-handed.  He  was  already  some 
months  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  but  he  had  nothing  in 
the  world,  not  even  a  suit  of  respectable  clothes ;  and  one  of 
the  first  pieces  of  work  he  did  was  "to  split  four  hundred  rails 
for  every  yard  of  brown  jeans  dyed  with  white-walnut  bark 
that  would  be  necessary  to  make  him  a  pair  of  trousers."  He 
had  no  trade,  no  profession,  no  spot  of  land,  no  patron,  no 
influence.  Two  things  recommended  him  to  his  neighbors — 
he  was  strong,  and  he  was  a  good  fellow. 

His  strength  made  him  a  valuable  laborer.  Not  that  he  was 
fond  of  hard  labor.  One  of  his  Indiana  employers  says :  "Abe 
was  no  hand  to  pitch  into  work  like  killing  snakes ;"  but  when 
he  did  work,  it  was  with  an  ease  and  effectiveness  which 
compensated  his  employer  for  the  time  he  spent  in  practical 
jokes  and  extemporaneous  speeches.  He  could  lift  as  much 
as  three  ordinary  men,  and  "My,  how  he  would  chop,"  says 
(4) 


50  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Dennis  Hanks.  "His  axe  would  flash  and  bite  into  a  sugar- 
tree  or  sycamore  and  down  it  would  come.  If  you  heard  him 
fellin'  trees  in  a  clearin',  you  would  say  there  was  three  men 
at  work  by  the  way  the  trees  fell." 

Standing  six  feet  four,  he  could  out-lift,  out-work  and 
out-wrestle  any  man  he  came  in  contact  with.  Friends  and 
employers  were  proud  of  his  prowess,  and  boasted  of  it,  never 
failing  to  pit  him  against  any  hero  whose  strength  they  heard 
vaunted.  He  himself  was  proud  of  it,  and  throughout  his 
life  was  fond  of  comparing  himself  with  tall  and  strong  men. 
When  the  committee  called  on  him  in  Springfield  in  1860,  to 
notify  him  of  his  nomination  as  President,  Governor  Mor- 
gan, of  New  York,  was  of  the  number,  a  man  of  great  height 
and  brawn.  'Tray,  Governor,  how  tall  may  you  be?"  was  Mr. 
Lincoln's  first  question.  There  is  a  story  told  of  a  poor  man 
seeking  a  favor  from  him  once  at  the  White  House.  He  was 
overpowered  by  the  idea  that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  the 
President,  and,  riis  errand  done,  was  edging  shyly  away, 
when  Mr.  Lincoln  stopped  him,  insisting  that  he  measure 
with  him.  The  man  was  the  taller,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
thought ;  and  he  went  away  evidently  as  much  abashed  that 
he  dared  be  taller  than  the  President  of  the  United  States  as 
that  he  had  dared  to  venture  into  his  presence. 

Governor  Hoyt  tells  an  excellent  story  illustrating  this  in- 
terest of  Lincoln's  in  manly  strength,  and  his  involuntary 
comparison  of  himself  with  whomsoever  showed  it.  It  was  in 
1859,  after  Lincoln  had  delivered  a  speech  at  the  Wisconsin 
State  Agricultural  Fair  in  Milwaukee.  Governor  Hoyt  had 
asked  him  to  make  the  rounds  of  the  exhibits,  and  they  went 
into  a  tent  to  see  a  "strong  man"  perform.  He  went  through 
the  ordinary  exercises  with  huge  iron  balls,  tossing  them  in 
the  air,  and  catching  them  and  rolling  them  on  his  arms  and 
back ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  evidently  had  never  before  seen 
such  a  combination  of  agility  and  strength,  watched  him  with 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  51 

intense  interest,  ejaculating  under  his  breath  now  and  then: 
"By  George !  By  George !"  When  the  performance  was  over, 
Governor  Hoyt,  seeing  Mr.  Lincoln's  interest,  asked  him  to 
go  up  and  be  introduced  to  the  athlete.  He  did  so ;  and,  as  he 
stood  looking  down  musingly  on  the  man,  who  was  very 
short,  and  evidently  wondering  that  one  so  much  smaller 
than  he  could  be  so  much  stronger,  he  suddenly  broke  out 
with  one  of  his  quaint  speeches.  "Why,"  he  said,  "why,  I 
could  lick  salt  off  the  top  of  your  hat." 

His  strength  won  him  popularity,  but  his  good-nature,  his 
wit,  his  skill  in  debate,  his  stories,  were  still  more  efficient  in 
gaining  him  good-will.  People  liked  to  have  him  around,  and 
voted  him  a  good  fellow  to  work  with.  Yet  such  were  the 
conditions  of  his  life  at  this  time  that,  in  spite  of  his  popu- 
larity, nothing  was  open  to  him  but  hard  manual  labor.  To 
take  the  first  job  which  he  happened  upon — rail-splitting, 
ploughing,  lumbering,  boating,  store-keeping — and  make  the 
most  of  it,  thankful  if  thereby  he  earned  his  bed  and  board 
and  yearly  suit  of  jeans,  was  apparently  all  there  was  before 
Abraham  Lincoln  in  1830,  when  he  started  out  for  himself. 

Through  the  summer  and  fall  of  1830  and  the  early  winter 
of  1831,  Mr.  Lincoln  worked  in  the  vicinity  of  his  father's 
new  home,  usually  as  a  farm-hand  and  rail-splitter.  Most  of 
his  work  was  done  in  company  with  John  Hanks.  Before  the 
end  of  the  winter  he  secured  employment  of  which  he  has 
given  an  account  himself,  though  in  the  third  person : 

"During  that  winter,  Abraham,  together  with  his  step- 
mother's son,  John  D.  Johnston,  and  John  Hanks,  yet  resid- 
ing in  Macon  County,  hired  themselves  to  Denton  Offutt  to 
take  a  flatboat  from  Beardstown,  Illinois,  to  New  Orleans, 
and  for  that  purpose  were  to  join  him — OfTutt — at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  as  soon  as  the  snow  should  go  off.  When  it  did 
go  off,  which  was  about  the  first  of  March,  1831,  the  country 
was  so  flooded  as  to  make  traveling  by  land  impracticable ;  to 
obviate  which  difficulty  they  purchased  a  large  canoe  and 


52  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

came  down  the  Sangamon  river  in  it.  This  is  the  time  and 
manner  of  Abraham's  first  entrance  into  Sangamon  County. 
They  found  Offutt  at  Springfield,  but  learned  from  him  that 
he  had  failed  in  getting  a  boat  at  Beardstown.  This  led  to 
their  hiring  themselves  to  him  for  twelve  dollars  per  month 
each,  and  getting  the  timber  out  of  the  trees,  and  building  a 
boat  at  old  Sangamon  town,  on  the  Sangamon  river,  seven 
miles  northwest  of  Springfield,  which  boat  they  took  to  New 
Orleans,  substantially  on  the  old  contract." 

Sangamon  town,  where  Lincoln  built  the  flatboat,  has, 
since  his  day,  completely  disappeared  from  the  earth;  but 
then  it  was  one  of  the  flourishing  settlements  on  the  river  of 
that  name.  Lincoln's  advent  in  the  town  did  not  go  unno- 
ticed. In  a  small  community,  cut  off  from  the  world,  as  old 
Sangamon  was,  every  new-comer  is  scrutinized  and  discussed 
before  he  is  regarded  with  confidence.  Lincoln  did  not  es- 
cape this  scrutiny.  His  appearance  was  so  striking  in  fact 
that  he  attracted  everybody's  attention.  "He  was  a  tall, 
gaunt  young  man,"  says  Mr.  John  Roll,  of  Springfield,  then 
a  resident  of  Sangamon,  "dressed  in  a  suit  of  blue  homespun 
jeans,  consisting  of  a  round-about  jacket,  waistcoat,  and 
breeches  which  came  to  within  about  four  inches  of  his  feet. 
The  latter  were  encased  in  rawhide  boots,  into  the  tops  of 
which,  most  of  the  time,  his  pantaloons  were  stuffed.  He 
wore  a  soft  felt  hat  which  had  at  one  time  been  black,  but 
now,  as  its  owner  dryly  remarked,  'was  sun-burned  until  it 
was  a  combine  of  colors/  ' 

It  took  some  four  weeks  to  build  the  raft,  and  in  that  pe- 
riod Lincoln  succeeded  in  captivating  the  entire  village  by  his 
story-telling.  It  was  the  custom  in  Sangamon  for  the  "men- 
folks"  to  gather  at  noon  and  in  the  evening,  when  resting,  in 
a  convenient  lane  near  the  mill.  They  had  rolled  out  a  long 
peeled  log,  on  which  they  lounged  while  they  whittled  and 
talked.  Lincoln  had  not  been  long  in  Sangamon  before  he 
joined  this  circle.  At  once  he  became  a  favorite  by  his  jokes 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  53 

and  good-humor.  As  soon  as  he  appeared  at  the  assembly 
ground  the  men  would  start  him  to  story-telling.  So  irresist- 
ibly droll  were  his  "yarns"  that,  says  Mr.  Roll,  "whenever 
he'd  end  up  in  his  unexpected  way  the  boys  on  the  log  would 
whoop  and  roll  off."  The  result  of  the  rolling  off  was  to  pol- 
ish the  log  like  a  mirror.  The  men,  recognizing  Lincoln's 
part  in  this  polishing,  christened  their  seat  "Abe's  log."  Long 
after  Lincoln  had  disappeared  from  Sangamon,  "Abe's  log" 
remained,  and  until  it  had  rotted  away  people  pointed  it  out, 
and  repeated  the  droll  stories  of  the  stranger. 

When  the  flatboat  was  finished  Lincoln  and  his  friends  pre- 
pared to  leave  Sangamon.  Before  he  started,  however,  he 
was  the  hero  of  an  adventure  so  thrilling  that  he  won  new 
laurels  in  the  community.  Mr.  Roll,  who  was  a  witness  of  the 
whole  exciting  scene,  tells  the  story : 

"It  was  the  spring  following  the  winter  of  the  deep  snow.* 
Walter  Carman,  John  Seamon  and  myself,  and  at  times  oth- 
ers of  the  Carman  boys  had  helped  Abe  in  building  the  boat, 
and  when  we  had  finished  we  went  to  work  to  make  a  dug- 
out, or  canoe,  to  be  used  as  a  small  boat  with  the  flat.  Wre 
found  a  suitable  log  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  up  the  river, 
and  with  our  axes  went  to  work  under  Lincoln's  direction. 
The  river  was  very  high,  fairly  'booming/  After  the  dug- 
out was  ready  to  launch  we  took  it  to  the  edge  of  the  water, 
and  made  ready  to  'let  her  go/  when  Walter  Carman  and 
John  Seamon  jumped  in  as  the  boat  struck  the  water,  each 
one  anxious  to  be  the  first  to  get  a  ride.  As  they  shot  out  from 
the  shore  they  found  they  were  unable  to  make  any  headway 
against  the  strong  current.  Carman  had  the  paddle,  and  Sea- 
mon was  in  the  stern  of  the  boat.  Lincoln  shouted  to  them  to 
'head  up  stream/  and  'work  back  to  shore/  but  they  found 
themselves  powerless  against  the  stream.  At  last  they  began 
to  pull  for  the  wreck  of  an  old  flatboat,  the  first  ever  built  on 

*i830 — 1831.  "The  winter  of  the  deep  snow"  is  the  date  which  is  the 
starting  point  in  all  calculations  of  time  for  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois, 
and  the  circumstance  from  which  the  old  settlers  of  Sangamon  CourVty 
receive  the  name  by  which  they  are  generally  known,  "Snow-birds.' 


54  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  Sangamon,  which  had  sunk  and  gone  to  pieces,  leaving 
one  of  the  stanchions  sticking  above  the  water.  Just  as  they 
reached  it  Seamon  made  a  grab,  and  caught  hold  of  the 
stanchion,  when  the  canoe  capsized,  leaving  Seamon  clinging 
to  the  old  timber,  and  throwing  Carman  into  the  stream.  It 
carried  him  down  with  the  speed  of  a  mill-race.  Lincoln 
raised  his  voice  above  the  roar  of  the  flood,  and  yelled  to  Car- 
man to  swim  for  an  old  tree  which  stood  almost  in  the  chan- 
nel, which  the  action  of  the  high  water  had  changed. 

"  Carman,  being  a  good  swimmer,  succeeded  in  catching 
a  branch,  and  pulled  himself  up  out  of  the  water,  which  was 
very  cold,  and  had  almost  chilled  him  to  death ;  and  there  he 
sat  shivering  and  chattering  in  the  tree.  Lincoln,  seeing  Car- 
man safe,  called  out  to  Seamon  to  let  go  the  stanchion  and 
swim  for  the  tree.  With  some  hesitation  he  obeyed,  and 
struck  out,  while  Lincoln  cheered  and  directed  him  from  the 
bank.  As  Seamon  neared  the  tree  he  made  one  grab  for  a 
branch,  and,  missing  it,  went  under  the  water.  Another  des- 
perate lunge  was  successful,  and  he  climbed  up  beside  Car- 
man. Things  were  pretty  exciting  now,  for  there  were  two 
men  in  the  tree,  and  the  boat  was  gone. 

"It  was  a  cold,  raw  April  day,  and  there  was  great  danger 
of  the  men  becoming  benumbed,  and  falling  back  into  the 
water.  Lincoln  called  out  to  them  to  keep  their  spirits  up  and 
he  would  save  them.  The  village  had  been  alarmed  by  this 
time,  and  many  people  had  come  down  to  the  bank.  Lincoln 
procured  a  rope,  and  tied  it  to  a  log.  He  called  all  hands  to 
come  and  help  roll  the  log  into  the  water,  and  after  this  had 
been  done,  he,  with  the  assistance  of  several  others,  towed  it 
some  distance  up  the  stream.  A  daring  young  fellow  by  the 
name  of  'Jim'  Dorrell  then  took  his  seat  on  the  end  of  the  log, 
and  it  was  pushed  out  into  the  current,  with  the  expectation 
that  it  would  be  carried  down  stream  against  the  tree  where 
Seamon  and  Carman  were. 

"The  log  was  well  directed,  and  went  straight  to  the  tree ; 
but  Jim,  in  his  impatience  to  help  his  friends,  fell  a  victim 
to  his  good  intentions.  Making  a  frantic  grab  at  a  branch, 
he  raised  himself  off  the  log,  which  was  swept  from  under 
him  by  the  raging  water,  and  he  soon  joined  the  other  two 
victims  upon  their  forlorn  perch.  The  excitement  on  shore 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  55 

increased,  and  almost  the  whole  population  of  the  village 
gathered  on  the  river  bank.  Lincoln  had  the  log  pulled  up  the 
stream,  and,  securing  another  piece  of  rope,  called  to  the  men 
in  the  tree  to  catch  it  if  they  could  when  he  should  reach  the 
tree.  He  then  straddled  the  log  himself,  and  gave  the  word 
to  push  out  into  the  stream.  When  he  dashed  into  the  tree,  he 
threw  the  rope  over  the  stump  of  a  broken  limb,  and  let  it 
play  until  it  broj^e  the  speed  of  the  log,  and  gradually  drew  it 
back  to  the  tree,  holding  it  there  until  the  three  now  nearly 
frozen  men  had  climbed  down  and  seated  themselves  astride. 
He  then  gave  orders  to  the  people  on  the  shore  to  hold  fast 
to  the  end  of  the  rope  which  was  tied  to  the  log,  and,  leaving 
his  rope  in  the  tree  he  turned  the  log  adrift.  The  force  of  the 
current,  acting  against  the  taut  rope,  swung  the  log  around 
against  the  bank,  and  all  'on  board'  were  saved.  The  excited 
people,  who  had  watched  the  dangerous  experiment  with  al- 
ternate hope  and  fear,  now  broke  into  cheers  for  Abe  Lincoln 
and  praises  for  his  brave  act.  This  adventure  made  quite  a 
hero  of  him  along  the  Sangamon,  and  the  people  never  tired 
telling  of  the  exploit." 

The  flat-boat  built  and  loaded,  the  party  started  for  New 
Orleans  about  the  middle  of  April.  They  had  gone  but  a  few 
miles  when  they  met  with  another  adventure.  At  the  village 
of  New  Salem  there  was  a  mill-dam.  On  it  the  boat  stuck, 
and  here  for  nearly  twenty- four  hours  it  hung,  the  bow  in  the 
air  and  the  stern  in  the  water,  the  cargo  slowly  setting  back- 
wards— shipwreck  almost  certain.  The  village  of  New  Salem 
turned  out  in  a  body  to  see  what  the  strangers  would  do  in 
their  predicament.  They  shouted,  suggested,  and  advised  for 
a  time,  but  finally  discovered  that  one  big  fellow  in  the  crew 
was  ignoring  them  and  working  out  a  plan  of  relief.  Having 
unloaded  the  cargo  into  a  neighboring  boat,  Lincoln  had  suc- 
ceeded in  tilting  his  craft.  Then,  by  boring  a  hole  in  the  end 
extending  over  the  dam,  the  water  was  let  out.  This  done, 
the  boat  was  easily  shoved  over  and  reloaded.  The  ingenuity 
which  he  had  exercised  in  saving  his  boat  made  a  deep  im- 


56  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

pression  on  the  crowd  on  the  bank,  and  it  was  talked  over  foi 
many  a  day.  The  proprietor  of  boat  and  cargo  was  even  more 
enthusiastic  than  the  spectators,  and  vowed  he  would  build  a 
steamboat  for  the  Sangamon  and  make  Lincoln  the  captain. 
Lincoln  himself  was  interested  in  what  he  had  done,  and 
nearly  twenty  years  later  he  embodied  his  reflections  on  this 
adventure  in  a  curious  invention  for  getting  boats  over 
shoals. 

The  raft  over  the  New  Salem  dam,  the  party  went  on  to 
New  Orleans,  reaching  there  in  May,  1831,  and  remaining  a 
month.  It  must  have  been  a  month  of  intense  intellectual 
activity  for  Lincoln.  Since  his  first  visit,  made  with  young 
Gentry,  New  Orleans  had  entered  upon  her  "flush  times." 
Commerce  was  increasing  at  a  rate  which  dazzled  specula- 
tors and  drew  them  from  all  over  the  United  States.  From 
1830  to  1840  no  other  American  city  increased  in  such 
a  ratio;  exports  and  imports,  which  in  1831  amounted 
to  $26,000,000,  in  1835  had  more  than  doubled.  The  Creole 
population  had  held  the  sway  so  far  in  the  city;  but  now  it 
came  into  competition,  and  often  into  conflict,  with  a  push- 
ing, ambitious,  and  frequently  unscrupulous  native  Ameri- 
can party.  To  these  two  predominating  elements  were  added 
Germans,  French,  Spanish,  negroes,  and  Indians.  Cosmo- 
politan in  its  make-up,  the  city  was  even  more  cosmopolitan 
in  its  life.  Everything  was  to  be  seen  in  New  Orleans  in  those 
days,  from  the  idle  luxury  of  the  wealthy  Creole  to  the  or- 
ganization of  filibustering  juntas.  The  pirates  still  plied  their 
trade  in  the  Gulf,  and  the  Mississippi  river  brought  down 
hundreds  of  river  boatmen — one  of  the  wildest,  wickedest 
set  of  men  that  ever  existed  in  any  city. 

Lincoln  and  his  companions  ran  their  boat  up  beside  thou- 
sands of  others.  It  was  the  custom  to  tie  such  craft  along 
the  river  front  where  St.  Mary's  Market  now  stands,  and 
one  could  walk  a  mile,  it  is  said,  over  the  tops  of  these  boats 


STARTS  OUT  FOR  HIMSELF  57 

without  going  ashore.  No  doubt  Lincoln  went  too,  to  live  in 
the  boatmen's  rendezvous,  called  the  "swamp,"  a  wild,  rough 
quarter,  where  roulette,  whiskey,  and  the  flint-lock  pistol 
ruled.  All  of  the  picturesque  life,  the  violent  contrasts  of  the 
city,  he  would  see  as  he  wandered  about ;  and  he  would  carry 
away  the  sharp  impressions  which  are  produced  when  mind 
and  heart  are  alert,  sincere,  and  healthy. 

In  this  month  spent  in  New  Orleans,  Lincoln  must  have 
seen  much  of  slavery.  At  that  time  the  city  was  full  of  slaves, 
and  the  number  was  constantly  increasing ;  indeed,  one-third 
of  the  New  Orleans  increase  in  population  between  1830  and 
1840  was  in  negroes.  One  of  the  saddest  features  of  the  in- 
stitution was  to  be  seen  there  in  its  aggravated  form — the 
slave  market.  The  better  class  of  slave-holders  of  the  South, 
who  looked  on  the  institution  as  patriarchal,  and  who 
guarded  their  slaves  with  conscientious  care,  knew  little, 
it  should  be  said,  of  this  terrible  traffic.  Their  transfer  of 
slaves  was  humane,  but  in  the  open  markets  of  the  city  it  was 
attended  by  shocking  cruelty  and  degradation.  Lincoln  wit- 
nessed in  New  Orleans  for  the  first  time  the  revolting  sight  of 
men  and  women  sold  like  animals.  Mr.  Herndon  says  that  he 
often  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  refer  to  this  experience: 

"In  New  Orleans  for  the  first  time,"  he  writes,  "Lincoln 
beheld  the  true  horrors  of  human  slavery.  He  saw  'negroes 
in  chains — whipped  and  scourged/  Against  this  inhumanity 
his  sense  of  right  and  justice  rebelled,  and  his  mind  and  con- 
science were  awakened  to  a  realization  of  what  he  had  often 
heard  and  read.  No  doubt,  as  one  of  his  companions  has  said, 
'slavery  ran  the  iron  into  him  then  and  there.'  One  morning 
in  their  rambles  over  the  city  the  trio  passed  a  slave  auction. 
A  vigorous  and  comely  mulatto  girl  was  being  sold.  She  un- 
derwent a  thorough  examination  at  the  hands  of  the  bidders ; 
they  pinched  her  flesh,  and  made  her  trot  up  and  down  the 
room  like  a  horse,  to  show  how  she  moved,  and  in  order,  as 
the  auctioneer  said,  that  'bidders  might  satisfy  themselves 


58  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

whether  the  article  they  were  offering  to  buy  was  sound  or 
not.'  The  whole  thing  was  so  revolting  that  Lincoln  moved 
away  from  the  scene  with  a  deep  feeling  of  'unconquerable 
hate/  Bidding  his  companions  follow  him,  he  said :  'Boys, 
let's  get  away  from  this.  If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that 
thing'  (meaning  slavery),  'I'll  hit  it  hard.' ' 

Mr.  Herndon  gives  John  Hanks  as  his  authority  for  this 
statement,  but,  according  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  autobiography, 
Hanks  did  not  go  on  to  New  Orleans,  but,  having  a  family, 
and  finding  that  he  was  likely  to  be  detained  from  home 
longer  than  he  had  expected,  he  turned  back  at  St.  Louis. 
Though  the  story  as  told  above  probably  grew  to  its  present 
proportions  by  much  telling,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
Lincoln  was  deeply  impressed  on  this  trip  by  something  he 
saw  in  a  New  Orleans  slave  market,  and  that  he  often  re- 
ferred to  it 


CHAPTER  V 

LINCOLN    SECURES   A    POSITION — HE    STUDIES    GRAMMAR- 
FIRST   APPEARANCE   IN    POLITICS 

THE  month  in  New  Orleans  passed  swiftly,  and  in  June, 
1831,  Lincoln  and  his  companions  took  passage  up  the  river. 
He  did  not  return,  however,  in  the  usual  condition  of  the 
river  boatman  "out  of  a  job."  According  to  his  own  way  of 
putting  it,  "during  this  boat-enterprise  acquaintance  with 
Offutt,  who  was  previously  an  entire  stranger,  he  conceived  a 
liking  for  Abraham,  and  believing  he  could  turn  him  to  ac- 
count he  contracted  with  him  to  act  as  a  clerk  for  him  on  his 
return  from  New  Orleans,  in  charge  of  a  store  and  mill  at 
New  Salem."  The  store  and  mill  were,  however,  so  far  only 
in  Offutt's  imagination,  and  Lincoln  had  to  drift  about  until 
his  employer  was  ready  for  him.  He  made  a  short  visit  to  his 
father  and  mother,  now  in  Coles  County,  near  Charleston 
(fever  and  ague  had  driven  the  Lincolns  from  their  first 
home  in  Macon  County),  and  then,  in  July,  1831,  he  went  to 
New  Salem,  where,  as  he  says,  he  "stopped  indefinitely,  and 
for  the  first  time,  as  it  were,  by  himself." 

The  village  of  New  Salem,  the  scene  of  Lincoln's  mercan- 
tile career,  was  one  of  the  many  little  towns  which,  in  the  pio- 
neer days,  sprang  up  along  the  Sangamon  river,  a  stream 
then  looked  upon  as  navigable  and  as  destined  to  be  counted 
among  the  highways  of  commerce.  Twenty  miles  northwest 
of  Springfield,  strung  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Sangamon, 
parted  by  hollows  and  ravines,  is  a  row  of  high  hills.  On 
one  of  these — a  long,  narrow  ridge,  beginning  with  a  sharp 
and  sloping  point  near  the  river,  running  south,  and  parallel 

59 


6o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

with  the  stream  a  little  way,  and  then,  reaching  its  highest 
point,  making  a  sudden  turn  to  the  west,  and  gradually 
widening  until  lost  in  the  prairie — stood  this  frontier  village. 
The  crooked  river  for  a  short  distance  comes  from  the  east, 
and,  seemingly  surprised  at  meeting  the  bluff,  abruptly 
changes  its  course,  and  flows  to  the  north.  Across  the  river 
the  bottom  stretches  out  half  a  mile  back  to  the  highlands. 
New  Salem,  founded  in  1829  by  James  Rutledge  and  John 
Cameron,  and  a  dozen  years  later  a  deserted  village,  is  res- 
cued only  from  oblivion  by  the  fact  that  Lincoln  was  once 
one  of  its  inhabitants.  The  town  never  contained  more  than 
fifteen  houses,  all  of  them  built  of  logs,  but  it  had  an  ener- 
getic population  of  perhaps  one  hundred  persons,  among 
whom  were  a  blacksmith,  a  tinner,  a  hatter,  a  schoolmaster 
and  a  preacher.  New  Salem  boasted  a  grist-mill,  a  saw-mill, 
two  stores  and  a  tavern,  but  its  day  of  hope  was  short.  In 
1837  it  began  to  decline  and  by  1840,  Petersburg,  two  miles 
down  the  river,  had  absorbed  its  business  and  population.  Sa- 
lem Hill  is  now  only  a  green  cow  pasture. 

Lincoln's  first  sight  of  the  town  had  been  in  April,  1831, 
when  he  and  his  crew  had  been  detained  in  getting  their  flat- 
boat  over  the  Rutledge  and  Cameron  mill-dam.  When  he 
walked  into  New  Salem,  three  months  later,  he  was  not  alto- 
gether a  stranger,  for  the  people  remembered  him  as  the  in- 
genious flat-boatman  who  had  freed  his  boat  from  water  by 
resorting  to  the  miraculous  expedient  of  boring  a  hole  in  the 
bottom. 

Offutt's  goods  had  not  arrived  when  Mr.  Lincoln  reached 
New  Salem ;  and  he  "loafed"  about,  so  those  who  remember 
his  arrival  say,  good-naturedly  taking  a  hand  in  whatever  he 
could  find  to  do,  and  in  his  droll  way  making  friends  of  ev- 
erybody. By  chance,  a  bit  of  work  fell  to  him  almost  at  once, 
which  introduced  him  generally  and  gave  him  an  opportunity 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS  6 1 

to  make  a  name  in  the  neighborhood.  It  was  election  day.  In 
those  days  elections  in  Illinois  were  conducted  by  the  viva 
voce  method.  The  people  did  try  voting  by  ballot,  but  the  ex- 
periment was  unpopular.  It  required  too  much  form  and 
in  1829  the  former  method  of  voting  was  restored.  The 
judges  and  clerks  sat  at  a  table  with  the  poll-book  before 
them.  The  voter  walked  up,  and  announced  the  candidate  of 
his  choice,  and  it  was  recorded  in  his  presence.  There  was  no 
ticket  peddling,  and  ballot-box  stuffing  was  impossible.  The 
village  school-master,  Mentor  Graham  by  name,  was  clerk  at 
this  particular  election,  but  his  assistant  was  ill.  Looking 
about  for  some  one  to  help  him,  Mr.  Graham  saw  a  tall 
stranger  loitering  around  the  polling-place,  and  called  to 
him :  "  Can  you  write?  "  "  Yes,"  said  the  stranger,  "  I  can 
make  a  few  rabbit  tracks."  Mr.  Graham  evidently  was  satis- 
fied with  the  answer,  for  he  promptly  initiated  him ;  and  he 
filled  his  place  not  only  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  employer, 
but  also  to  the  delectation  of  the  loiterers  about  the  polls,  for 
whenever  things  dragged  he  immediately  began  "  to  spin  out 
a  stock  of  Indian  yarns."  So  droll  were  they  that  men  who 
listened  to  Lincoln  that  day  repeated  them  long  after  to  their 
friends.  He  had  made  a  hit  in  New  Salem,  to  start  with,  and 
here,  as  in  Sangamon  town,  it  was  by  means  of  his  story-tell- 
ing. 

A  few  days  later  he  accepted  an  offer  to  pilot  down  the 
Sangamon  and  Illinois  rivers,  as  far  as  Beardstown,  a  flat- 
boat  bearing  the  family  and  goods  of  a  pioneer  bound  for 
Texas.  At  Beardstown  he  found  Offutt's  goods,  waiting  to 
be  taken  to  New  Salem.  As  he  footed  his  way  home  he  found 
two  men  with  a  wagon  and  ox-teana  going  for  the  goods. 
Offutt  had  expected  Lincoln  to  wait  at  Beardstown  until  the 
ox-team  arrived,  and  the  teamsters,  not  having  any  creden- 
tials, asked  Lincoln  to  give  them  an  order  for  the  goods. 


62  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

This,  sitting  down  by  the  roadside,  he  wrote  out ;  one  of  the 
men  used  to  relate  that  it  contained  a  misspelled  word,  which 
he  corrected. 

When  the  oxen  and  their  drivers  returned  with  the  goods, 
the  store  was  opened  in  a  little  log  house  on  the  brink  of  the 
hill,  almost  over  the  river.  The  precise  date  of  the  opening 
of  Denton  Offutt's  store  is  not  known.  We  only  know  that 
on  July  8,  1831,  the  County  Commissioners*  Court  of  Sanga- 
mon  County  granted  Offutt  a  license  to  retail  merchandise 
at  New  Salern,  for  which  he  paid  five  dollars,  a  fee  which 
supposed  him  to  have  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods 
in  stock. 

The  frontier  store  filled  a  unique  place.  Usually  it  was  a 
"  general  store,"  and  on  its  shelves  were  found  most  of  the 
articles  needed  in  a  community  of  pioneers.  But  supplying 
goods  and  groceries  was  not  its  only  function ;  it  was  the  pio- 
neer's intellectual  and  social  center.  It  was  the  common  meet- 
ing-place of  the  farmers,  the  happy  refuge  of  the  village 
loungers.  No  subject  was  unknown  there.  The  habitues  of 
the  place  were  equally  at  home  in  discussing  politics,  reli- 
gion, or  sports.  Stories  were  told,  jokes  were  cracked,  and 
the  news  contained  in  the  latest  newspaper  finding  its  way 
into  the  wilderness  was  repeated  again  and  again.  Lincoln 
could  hardly  have  chosen  surroundings  more  favorable  to 
the  highest  development  of  the  art  of  story-telling,  and  he 
had  not  been  there  long  before  his  reputation  for  drollery 
was  established. 

But  he  gained  popularity  and  respect  in  other  ways.  There 
was  near  the  village  a  settlement  called  Clary's  Grove,  the 
most  conspicuous  part  of  whose  population  was  an  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  "  Clary's  Grove  Boys."  They  exercised  a 
veritable  terror  over  the  neighborhood,  and  yet  they  were  not 
a  bad  set  of  fellows.  Mr.  Herndon,  who  knew  personally 
many  of  the  "  boys,"  says : 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS  63 

"They  were  friendly  and  good-natured ;  they  could  trench 
a  pond,  dig  a  bog,  build  a  house ;  they  could  pray  and  fight, 
make  a  village  or  create  a  state.  They  would  do  almost  any- 
thing for  sport  or  fun,  love  or  necessity.  Though  rude  and 
rough,  though  life's  forces  ran  over  the  edge  of  the  bowl, 
foaming  and  sparkling  in  pure  deviltry  for  deviltry's  sake, 
yet  place  before  them  a  poor  man  who  needed  their  aid,  a 
lame  or  sick  man,  a  defenceless  woman,  a  widow,  or  an  or- 
phaned child,  they  melted  into  sympathy  and  charity  at  once. 
They  gave  all  they  had,  and  willingly  toiled  or  played  cards 
for  more.  Though  there  never  was  under  the  sun  a  more 
generous  parcel  of  rowdies,  a  stranger's  introduction  was 
likely  to  be  the  most  unpleasant  part  of  his  acquaintance  with 
them." 

Denton  Offutt,  Lincoln's  employer,  was  just  the  man  to 
love  to  boast  before  such  a  crowd.  He  seemed  to  feel  that 
Lincoln's  physical  prowess  shed  glory  on  himself,  and  he  de- 
clared the  country  over  that  his  clerk  could  lift  more,  throw 
farther,  run  faster,  jump  higher,  and  wrestle  better  than  any 
man  in  Sangamon  county.  The  Clary's  Grove  Boys,  of 
course,  felt  in  honor  bound  to  prove  this  false,  and  they  ap- 
pointed their  best  man,  one  Jack  Armstrong,  to  "throw  Abe." 
Jack  Armstrong  was,  according  to  the  testimony  of  all  who 
remember  him,  a  "powerful  twister,"  "square  built  and 
strong  as  an  ox,"  "the  best-made  man  that  ever  lived ;"  and 
everybody  knew  that  a  contest  between  him  and  Lincoln 
would  be  close.  Lincoln  did  not  like  to  "tussle  and  scuffle," 
he  objected  to  "woolling  and  pulling;"  but  Offutt  had  gone 
so  far  that  it  became  necessary  to  yield.  The  match  was  held 
on  the  ground  near  the  grocery.  Clary's  Grove  and  New  Sa- 
lem turned  out  generally  to  witness  the  bout,  and  betting  on 
the  result  ran  high,  the  community  as  a  whole  staking  their 
jack-knives,  tobacco  plugs,  and  "treats"  on  Armstrong.  The 
two  men  had  scarcely  taken  hold  of  each  other  before  it  was 
evident  that  the  Clary's  Grove  champion  had  met  a  match. 


04  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

The  two  men  wrestled  long  and  hard,  but  both  kept  their  feet. 
Neither  could  throw  the  other,  and  Armstrong,  convinced  of 
this,  tried  a  "foul."  Lincoln  no  sooner  realized  the  game  of 
his  antagonist  than,  furious  with  indignation,  he  caught  him 
by  the  throat,  and  holding  him  out  at  arm's  length,  he  "shook 
him  like  a  child."  Armstrong's  friends  rushed  to  his  aid,  and 
for  a  moment  it  looked  as  if  Lincoln  would  be  routed  by  sheer 
force  of  numbers;  but  he  held  his  own  so  bravely  that  the 
"boys,"  in  spite  of  their  sympathies,  were  filled  with  admira- 
tion. What  bid  fair  to  be  a  general  fight  ended  in  a  general 
hand-shake,  even  Jack  Armstrong  declaring  that  Lincoln  was 
the  "best  fellow  who  ever  broke  into  the  camp."  From  that 
day,  at  the  cock-fights  and  horse-races,  which  were  their 
common  sports,  he  became  the  chosen  umpire ;  and  when  the 
entertainment  broke  up  in  a  row — a  not  uncommon  occur- 
rence— he  acted  the  peacemaker  without  suffering  the  peace- 
maker's usual  fate.  Such  was  his  reputation  with  the 
"Clary's  Grove  Boys,"  after  three  months  in  New  Salern, 
that  when  the  fall  muster  came  off  he  was  elected  captain. 

Lincoln  showed  soon  that  if  he  was  unwilling  to  indulge  in 
"woolling  and  pulling"  for  amusement,  he  did  not  object  to 
it  in  the  interests  of  decency  and  order.  In  such  a  community 
as  New  Salem  there  are  always  braggarts  who  can  only  be 
made  endurable  by  fear.  To  them  Lincoln  soon  became  an  au- 
thority more  to  be  respected  than  sheriff  or  constable.  If  they 
transgressed  in  his  presence  he  thrashed  them  promptly  with 
an  imperturbable  air,  half  indolent,  but  wholly  resolute  which 
was  more  baffling  and  impressive  than  even  his  iron  grip  and 
well-directed  blows.  A  man  came  into  the  store  one  day  and 
began  swearing.  Now,  profanity  in  the  presence  of  women, 
Lincoln  never  would  allow.  He  asked  the  man  to  stop;  but 
he  persisted,  loudly  boasting  that  nobody  should  prevent  his 
saying  what  he  wanted  to.  The  women  gone,  the  man  began 
to  abuse  Lincoln  so  hotly  that  the  latter  said :  "Well,  if  you 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS  65 

must  be  whipped,  I  suppose  I  might  as  well  whip  you  as  any 
other  man;"  and  going  outdoors  with  the  fellow,  he  threw 
him  on  the  ground,  and  rubbed  smart- weed  into  his  eyes  until 
he  bellowed  for  mercy.  New  Salem's  sense  of  chivalry  was 
touched,  and  Denton  Offutt's  clerk  became  more  of  a  hero 
than  ever. 

His  honesty  excited  no  less  admiration.  Two  incidents 
seem  to  have  particularly  impressed  the  community.  Having 
discovered  on  one  occasion  that  he  had  taken  six  and  one- 
quarter  cents  too  much  from  a  customer,  he  walked  three 
miles  that  evening,  after  his  store  was  closed,  to  return  the 
money.  Again,  he  weighed  out  a  half-pound  of  tea,  as  He 
supposed.  It  was  night,  and  this  was  the  last  thing  he  did  be- 
fore closing  up.  On  entering  in  the  morning  he  discovered  a 
four-ounce  weight  in  the  scales.  He  saw  his  mistake,  and 
closing  up  shop,  hurried  off  to  deliver  the  remainder  of  the 
tea.  This  unusual  regard  for  the  rights  of  others  soon  won 
him  the  title  of  "Honest  Abe." 

As  soon  as  the  store  was  fairly  under  way,  Lincoln  began 
to  look  about  for  books.  Since  leaving  Indiana  in  March, 
1830,  he  had  had  in  his  drifting  life,  little  leisure  or  op- 
portunity for  study,  though  a  great  deal  for  observation 
of  men  and  of  life.  His  experience  had  made  him  realize 
more  and  more  clearly  that  power  over  men  depends 
upon  knowledge.  He  had  found  that  he  was  himself  supe- 
rior to  many  of  those  who  were  called  the  "great"  men  of 
the  country.  Soon  after  entering  Macon  county,  in  March, 
1830,  when  he  was  only  twenty-one  years  old,  he  had  found 
he  could  make  a  better  speech  than  at  least  one  man  who  was 
before  the  public.  A  candidate  had  come  along  where  he  and 
John  Hanks  were  at  work,  and,  as  John  Hanks  tells  the  story, 
the  man  made  a  speech.  "It  was  a  bad  one,  and  I  said  Abe 
could  heat  it.  I  turned  down  a  box,  and  Abe  made  his  speech. 
The  other  man  was  a  candidate,  Abe  wasn't.  Abe  beat  him 

(s) 


66  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

to  death,  his  subject  being  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon 
river.  The  man,  after  Abe's  speech  was  through,  took  him 
aside  and  asked  him  where  he  had  learned  so  much,  and  how 
he  could  do  so  well.  Abe  replied,  stating  his  manner  and 
method  of  reading,  what  he  had  read.  The  man  encouraged 
him  to  persevere." 

He  studied  men  carefully,  comparing  himself  with  them. 
Could  he  do  what  they  did  ?  He  seems  never  up  to  this  time 
to  have  met  one  who  was  incomprehensible  to  him.  "I  have 
talked  with  great  men/'  he  told  his  fellow-clerk  and  friend 
Greene,  "and  I  do  not  see  how  they  differ  from  others." 
Then  he  found,  too,  that  people  listened  to  him,  that  they 
quoted  his  opinions,  and  that  his  friends  were  already  say- 
ing that  he  was  able  to  fill  any  position.  Offutt  even  de- 
clared the  country  over  that  "Abe"  knew  more  than  any 
man  in  the  United  States,  and  that  some  day  he  would  be 
President. 

When  he  began  to  realize  that  he  himself  possessed  the 
qualities  which  made  men  great  in  Illinois,  that  success  de- 
pended upon  knowledge  and  that  already  his  friends  cred- 
ited him  with  possessing  more  than  most  members  of 
the  community,  his  ambition  was  encouraged  and  his  desire 
to  learn  increased.  Why  should  he  not  try  for  a  public  posi- 
tion ?  He  began  to  talk  to  his  friends  of  his  ambition  and  to 
devise  plans  for  self-improvement.  In  order  to  keep  in  prac- 
tice in  speaking  he  walked  seven  or  eight  miles  to  debating 
clubs.  "Practicing  polemics,"  was  what  he  called  the  exer- 
cise. He  seems  now  for  the  first  time  to  have  begun  to  study 
subjects.  Grammar  was  what  he  chose.  He  sought  Mentor 
Graham,  the  schoolmaster,  and  asked  his  advice.  "If  you  are 
going  before  the  public,"  Mr.  Graham  told  him,  "you  ought 
to  do  it."  But  where  could  he  get  a  grammar  ?  There  was  but 
one,  said  Mr.  Graham,  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  was  six 
miles  away.  Without  waiting  for  further  information,  the 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS  67 

young  man  rose  from  the  breakfast-table,  walked  immedi- 
ately to  the  place  and  borrowed  this  rare  copy  of  Kirkham's 
Grammar.  From  that  time  on  for  weeks  he  gave  every  mo- 
ment of  his  leisure  to  mastering  the  contents  of  the  book. 
Frequently  he  asked  his  friend  Greene  to  "hold  the  book" 
while  he  recited,  and,  when  puzzled  by  a  point,  he  would 
consult  Mr.  Graham. 

Lincoln's  eagerness  to  learn  was  such  that  the  whole 
neighborhood  became  interested.  The  Greenes  lent  him 
books,  the  schoolmaster  kept  him  in  mind  and  helped  him  as 
he  could,  and  the  village  cooper  let  him  come  into  his  shop 
and  keep  up  a  fire  of  shavings  sufficiently  bright  to  read  by  at 
night.  It  was  not  long  before  the  grammar  was  mastered. 
"Well,"  Lincoln  said  to  his  fellow-clerk,  Greene,  "if  that's 
what  they  call  a  science,  I  think  I'll  go  at  another." 

Before  the  winter  was  ended  he  had  become  the  most  popu- 
lar man  in  New  Salem.  Although  he  was  but  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  in  February,  1832,  had  never  been  at  school  an 
entire  year  in  his  life,  had  never  made  a  speech  except  in  de- 
bating clubs  and  by  the  roadside,  had  read  only  the  books  he 
could  pick  up,  and  known  only  the  men  who  made  up  the 
poor,  out-of-the-way  towns  in  which  he  had  lived,  "encour- 
aged by  his  great  popularity  among  his  immediate  neigh- 
bors," as  he  says  himself,  he  decided  to  announce  himself,  in 
March,  1832,  as  a  candidate  for  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State. 

The  only  preliminary  expected  of  a  candidate  for  the  leg- 
islature of  Illinois  at  that  date  was  an  announcement  stating 
his  "sentiments  with  regard  to  local  affairs."  The  circular  in 
which  Lincoln  complied  with  this  custom  was  a  document  of 
about  two  thousand  words,  in  which  he  plunged  at  once  into 
the  subject  he  believed  most  interesting  to  his  constituents — 
"the  public  utility  of  internal  improvements." 

At  that  time  the  State  of  Illinois — as,  indeed,  the  whole 


6S  ,  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

United  States — was  convinced  that  the  future  of  the  country 
depended  on  the  opening  of  canals  and  railroads,  and  the 
clearing  out  of  the  rivers.  In  the  Sangamon  country  the 
population  felt  that  a  quick  way  of  getting  to  Beardstown  on 
the  Illinois  river,  to  which  point  the  steamer  came  from  the 
Mississippi,  was,  as  Lincoln  puts  it  in  his  circular,  "indis- 
pensably necessary."  Of  course  a  railroad  was  the  dream  of 
the  settlers ;  but  when  it  was  considered  seriously  there  was 
always,  as  Lincoln  says,  "a  heart-appalling  shock  accom- 
panying the  amount  of  its  cost,  which  forces  us  to  shrink 
from  our  pleasing  anticipations.  The  probable  cost  of  this 
contemplated  railroad  is  estimated  at  two  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  dollars ;  the  bare  statement  of  which,  in  my 
opinion,  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  belief  that  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Sangamon  river  is  an  object  much  better  suited 
to  our  infant  resources. 

"Respecting  this  view,  I  think  I  may  say,  without  the  fear 
of  being  contradicted,  that  its  navigation  may  be  rendered 
completely  practicable  as  high  as  the  mouth  of  the  South 
Fork,  or  probably  higher,  to  vessels  of  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  tons  burden,  for  at  least  one-half  of  all  common  years, 
and  to  vessels  of  much  greater  burden  a  part  of  the  time. 
From  my  peculiar  circumstances,  it  is  probable  that  for  the 
last  twelve  months  I  have  given  as  particular  attention  to  the 
stage  of  the  water  in  this  river  as  any  other  person  in  the 
country.  In  the  month  of  March,  1831,  in  company  with 
others,  I  commenced  the  building  of  a  flatboat  on  the  Sanga- 
mon, and  finished  and  took  her  out  in  the  course  of  the 
spring.  Since  that  time  I  have  been  concerned  in  the  mill  at 
New  Salem.  These  circumstances  are  sufficient  evidence  that 
I  have  not  been  very  inattentive  to  the  stages  of  the  water. 
The  time  at  which  we  crossed  the  mill-dam  being  in  the  last 
days  of  April,  the  water  was  lower  than  it  had  been  since  the 
breaking  of  winter  in  February,  or  than  it  was  for  several 
weeks  after.  The  principal  difficulties  we  encountered  in  de- 
scending the  river  were  from  the  drifted  timber,  which  ob- 
structions all  know  are  not  difficult  to  be  removed.  Knowing 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS 

O      -^ 

almost  precisely  the  height  of  water  at  that  time,  I  believe  r^//^  4 
am  safe  in  saying  that  it  has  as  often  been  higher  as  lower 
since. 

"From  this  view  of  the  subject  it  appears  that  my  calcula- 
tions with  regard  to  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  cannot 
but  be  founded  in  reason;  but,  whatever  may  be  its  natural 
advantages,  certain  it  is  that  it  never  can  be  practically  useful 
to  any  great  extent  without  being  greatly  improved  by  art. 
The  drifted  timber,  as  I  have  before  mentioned,  is  the  most 
formidable  barrier  to  this  object.  Of  all  parts  of  this  river, 
none  will  require  so  much  labor  in  proportion  to  make  it 
navigable  as  the  last  thirty  or  thirty-five  miles;  and  going 
with  the  meanderings  of  the  channel,  when  we  are  this  dis- 
tance above  its  mouth  we  are  only  between  twelve  and 
eighteen  miles  above  Beardstown  in  something  near  a 
straight  direction ;  and  this  route  is  upon  such  low  ground  as 
to  retain  water  in  many  places  during  the  season,  and  in  all 
parts  such  as  to  draw  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  river 
water  at  all  high  stages. 

"This  route  is  on  prairie  land  the  whole  distance,  so  that 
it  appears  to  me,  by  removing  the  turf  a  sufficient  width,  and 
damming  up  the  old  channel,  the  whole  river  in  a  short  time 
would  wash  its  way  through,  thereby  curtailing  the  distance 
and  increasing  the  velocity  of  the  current  very  considerably, 
while  there  would  be  no  timber  on  the  banks  to  obstruct  its 
navigation  in  future;  and  being  nearly  straight,  the  tim- 
ber which  might  float  in  at  the  head  would  be  apt  to  go  clear 
through.  There  are  also  many  places  above  this  where  the 
river,  in  its  zigzag  course,  forms  such  complete  peninsulas  as 
to  be  easier  to  cut  at  the  necks  than  to  remove  the  obstruc- 
tions from  the  bends,  which,  if  done,  would  also  lessen  the 
distance. 

"What  the  cost  of  this  work  would  be,  I  am  unable  to  say. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  it  would  not  be  greater  than  is 
common  to  streams  of  the  same  length.  Finally,  I  believe 
the  improvement  of  the  Sangamon  river  to  be  vastly  impor- 
tant and  highly  desirable  to  the  people  of  the  county;  and,  if 
elected,  any  measure  in  the  legislature  having  this  for  its  ob- 
ject, which  may  appear  judicious,  will  meet  my  approbation 
and  receive  my  supnort." 


70  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Lincoln  could  not  have  adopted  a  measure  more  popular. 
At  that  moment  the  whole  population  of  Sangamon  was  in  a 
state  of  wild  expectation.  Some  six  weeks  before  Lin- 
coln's circular  appeared,  a  citizen  of  Springfield  had  adver- 
tised that  as  soon  as  the  ice  went  off  the  river  he  would  bring 
up  a  steamer,  the  "Talisman,"  from  Cincinnati,  and  prove  the 
Sangamon  navigable.  The  announcement  had  aroused  the 
entire  country,  speeches  were  made,  and  subscriptions  taken. 
The  merchants  announced  goods  direct  per  steamship  "Talis- 
man/' the  country  over,  and  every  village  from  Beardstown 
to  Springfield  was  laid  off  in  town  lots.  When  the  circular 
appeared  the  excitement  was  at  its  height. 

Lincoln's  comments  in  his  circular  on  two  other  subjects, 
on  which  all  candidates  of  the  day  expressed  themselves,  are 
amusing  in  their  simplicity.  The  practice  of  loaning  money 
at  exorbitant  rates  was  then  a  great  evil  in  the  West.  Lin- 
coln proposed  that  the  limits  of  usury  be  fixed,  and  he  closed 
his  paragraph  on  the  subject  with  these  words,  which  sound 
strange  enough  from  a  man  who  in  later  life  showed  so  pro- 
found a  reverence  for  law : 

"In  cases  of  extreme  necessity,  there  could  always  be 
means  found  to  cheat  the  law;  while  in  all  other  cases  it 
would  have  its  intended  effect.  I  would  favor  the  passage  of 
a  law  on  this  subject  whLh  might  not  be  very  easily  evaded. 
Let  it  be  such  that  the  labor  and  difficulty  of  evading  it  could 
only  be  justified  in  cases  of  greatest  necessity." 

A  general  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  State  was  the  second 
topic  which  he  felt  required  a  word.  "Considering  the  great 
probability,"  he  said,  "that  the  framers  of  those  laws  were 
wiser  than  myself,  I  should  prefer  not  meddling  with  them, 
unless  they  were  first  attacked  by  others;  in  which  case  I 
should  feel  it  both  a  privilege  and  a  duty  to  take  that  stand 
which,  in  my  view,  might  tend  most  to  the  advancement  of 
justice." 

Of  course  he  said  a  word  for  education! 


FIRST  APPEARANCE  IN  POLITICS  Jl 

"Upon  the  subject  of  education,  not  presuming  to  dictate 
any  plan  or  system  respecting  it,  I  can  only  say  that  I  view  it 
as  the  most  important  subject  which  we  as  a  people  can  be 
engaged  in.  That  every  man  may  receive  at  least  a  moderate 
education,  and  thereby  be  enabled  to  read  the  histories  of  his 
own  and  other  countries,  by  which  he  may  duly  appreciate 
the  value  of  our  free  institutions,  appears  to  be  an  object  of 
vital  importance,  even  on  this  account  alone,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  advantages  and  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  all 
being  able  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and  other  works  both  of  a 
religious  and  moral  nature,  for  themselves. 

"For  my  part,  I  desire  to  see  the  time  when  education — 
and  by  its  means,  morality,  sobriety,  enterprise,  and  industry 
— shall  become  much  more  general  than  at  present,  and 
should  be  gratified  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  contribute  some- 
thing to  the  advancement  of  any  measure  which  might  have 
a  tendency  to  accelerate  that  happy  period." 

The  audacity  of  a  young  man  in  his  position  presenting 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  is  fully  equaled  by 
the  humility  of  the  closing  paragraphs  of  his  announcement : 

"But,  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  conclude.  Considering  the 
great  degree  of  modesty  which  should  always  attend  youth, 
it  is  probable  I  have  already  been  more  presuming  than 
becomes  me.  However,  upon  the  subjects  of  which  I  have 
treated,  I  have  spoken  as  I  have  thought.  I  may  be  wrong  in 
regard  to  any  or  all  of  them ;  but,  holding  it  a  sound  maxim 
that  it  is  better  only  sometimes  to  be  right  than  at  all  times 
to  be  wrong,  so  soon  as  I  discover  my  opinions  to  be  errone- 
ous, I  shall  be  ready  to  renounce  them. 

"Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  ambition.  Whether 
it  be  true  or  not,  I  can  say,  for  one,  that  I  have  no  other  so 
great  as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed  of  my  fellow-men,  by 
rendering  myself  worthy  of  their  esteem.,  How  far  I  shall 
succeed  in  gratifying  this  ambition  is  yet  to  be  developed.  I 
am  young,  and  unknown  to  many  of  you.  I  was  born,  and 
have  ever  remained,  in  the  most  humble  walks  of  life.  I  have 
no  wealthy  or  popular  relations  or  friends  to  recommend  me. 
My  case  is  thrown  exclusively  upon  the  independent  voters  of 
the  county ;  and,  if  elected,  they  will  have  conferred  a  favor 


72  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

upon  me  for  which  I  shall  be  unremitting  in  my  labors  to 
compensate.  But,  if  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom  shall  see 
fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  I  have  been  too  familiar 
with  disappointments  to  be  very  much  chagrined." 

Very  soon  after  Lincoln  had  distributed  his  hand-bills,  en- 
thusiasm on  the  subject  of  the  opening  of  the  Sangamon  rose 
to  a  fever.  The  "Talisman"  actually  came  up  the  river; 
scores  of  men  went  to  Beardstown  to  meet  her,  among  them 
Lincoln,  of  course,  and  to  him  was  given  the  honor  of  pilot- 
ing her — an  honor  which  made  him  remembered  by  many  a 
man  who  saw  him  that  day  for  the  first  time.  The  trip  was 
made  with  all  the  wild  demonstrations  which  always  attended 
the  first  steamboat.  On  either  bank  a  long  procession  of  men 
and  boys  on  foot  or  horse  accompanied  the  boat.  Cannons 
and  volleys  of  musketry  were  fired  from  every  settlement 
passed.  At  every  stop  speeches  were  made,  congratulations 
offered,  toasts  drunk,  flowers  presented.  It  was  one  long  hur- 
rah from  Beardstown  to  Springfield,  and  foremost  in  the  ju- 
bilation was  Lincoln,  the  pilot.  The  "Talisman"  went  to  the 
point  on  the  river  nearest  to  Springfield,  and  there  tied  up  for 
a  week.  When  she  went  back  Lincoln  again  had  the  conspicu- 
ous position  of  pilot.  The  notoriety  this  gave  him  was  prob- 
ably quite  as  valuable  politically,  as  the  forty  dollars  he 
received  for  his  service  was  financially. 

While  the  country  had  been  dreaming  of  wealth  through 
the  opening  of  the  Sangamon,  and  Lincoln  had  been  doing 
his  best  to  prove  that  the  dream  would  be  realized,  the  store 
in  which  he  clerked  was  "petering  out" — to  use  his  expres- 
sion. The  owner,  Denton  Offutt,  had  proved  more  ambitious 
than  wise,  and  Lincoln  saw  that  an  early  closing  by  the 
sheriff  was  probable.  But  before  the  store  was  fairly  closed, 
and  while  the  "Talisman"  was  yet  exciting  the  country,  an 
event  occurred  which  interrupted  all  of  Lincoln's  plans. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BLACK   HAWK   WAR — LINCOLN   CHOSEN   CAPTAIN   OF  A 

COMPANY REENLISTS    AS    AN    INDEPENDENT    RANGER — 

END  OF  THE  WAR 

ONE  morning  in  April  a  messenger  from  the  governor  of 
the  State  rode  into  New  Salem,  scattering  circulars.  The 
circular  was  addressed  to  the  militia  of  the  northwest  sec- 
tion of  the  State,  and  announced  that  the  British  band  of 
Sacs  and  other  hostile  Indians,  headed  by  Black  Hawk,  had 
invaded  the  Rock  River  country,  to  the  great  terror  of  the 
frontier  inhabitants ;  and  it  called  upon  the  citizens  who  were 
willing  to  aid  in  repelling  them,  to  rendezvous  at  Beardstown 
within  a  week. 

The  name  of  Black  Hawk  was  familiar  to  the  people  of 
Illinois.  He  was  an  old  enemy  of  the  settlers,  and  had  been 
a  tried  friend  of  the  British.  The  land  his  people  had  once 
owned  in  the  northwest  of  the  present  State  of  Illinois  had 
been  sold  in  1804  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  but 
with  the  provision  that  the  Indians  could  hunt  and  raise 
corn  there  until  it  was  surveyed  and  sold  to  settlers.  Long 
before  the  land  was  surveyed,  however,  squatters  had  invaded 
the  country,  and  tried  to  force  the  Indians  west  of  the  Miss- 
issippi. Particularly  envious  were  these  whites  of  the  lands 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rock  river,  where  the  ancient  village  and 
burial  place  of  the  Sacs  stood,  and  where  they  came  each  year 
to  raise  corn.  Black  Hawk  had  resisted  their  encroachments, 
and  many  violent  acts  had  been  committed  on  both  sides. 

Finally,  however,  the  squatters,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
line  of  settlement  was  still  fifty  miles  away,  succeeded  iff 

73 


74  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

evading  the  real  meaning  of  the  treaty  and  in  securing  a  sur- 
vey of  the  desired  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Black 
Hawk,  exasperated  and  broken-hearted  at  seeing  his  village 
violated,  persuaded  himself  that  the  village  had  never  been 
sold — indeed,  that  land  could  not  be  sold. 

"My  reason  teaches  me,"  he  wrote,  "that  land  cannot  be 
sold.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  it  to  his  children  to  live  upon, 
and  cultivate,  as  far  as  is  necessary,  for  their  subsistence; 
and  so  long  as  they  occupy  and  cultivate  it  they  have  the  right 
to  the  soil,  but  if  they  voluntarily  leave  it,  then  any  other  peo- 
ple have  a  right  to  settle  upon  it.  Nothing  can  be  sold  but 
such  things  as  can  be  carried  away." 

Supported  by  this  theory,  conscious  that  in  some  way  he 
did  not  understand  he  had  been  wronged,  and  urged  on  by 
White  Cloud,  the  prophet,  who  ruled  a  Winnebago  village  on 
the  Rock  river,  Black  Hawk  crossed  the  Mississippi  in  1831, 
determined  to  evict  the  settlers.  A  military  demonstration 
drove  him  back,  and  he  was  persuaded  to  sign  a  treaty  never 
to  return  east  of  the  Mississippi.  "I  touched  the  goose-quill 
to  the  treaty  and  was  determined  to  live  in  peace,"  he  wrote 
afterwards ;  but  hardly  had  he  "touched  the  goose-quill"  be- 
fore his  heart  smote  him.  Longing  for  his  home,  resentment 
at  the  whites,  obstinacy,  brooding  over  the  bad  counsels  of 
White  Cloud  and  his  disciple,  Neapope — an  agitating  Indian 
who  had  recently  been  east  to  visit  the  British  and  their  In 
dian  allies,  and  who  assured  Black  Hawk  that  the  Winneba- 
goes,  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  and  Pottawottomies  would  join 
him  in  a  struggle  for  his  land,  and  that  the  British  would 
send  him  guns,  ammunition,  provisions,  and  clothing  earl} 
in  the  spring — all  persuaded  the  Hawk  that  he  would  be  suc- 
cessful if  he  made  an  effort  to  drive  out  the  whites.  In  spite 
of  the  advice  of  many  of  his  friends  and  of  the  Indian  agent 
in  the  country,  he  crossed  the  river  on  April  6,  1832,  and  with 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  75 

some  five  hundred  braves,  his  squaws  and  children,  marched 
to  the  Prophet's  town,  thirty-five  miles  up  the  Rock  river. 

As  soon  as  they  heard  of  Black  Hawk's  invasion,  the  set- 
tlers of  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  fled  in  a  panic  to 
the  forts ;  and  from  there  rained  petitions  for  protection  on 
Governor  Reynolds.  General  Atkinson,  who  was  at  Fort 
Armstrong,  wrote  to  the  governor  for  reinforcements ;  and, 
accordingly  on  the  i6th  of  April  Governor  Reynolds  sent  out 
"influential  messengers"  with  a  sonorous  summons.  It  was 
one  of  these  messengers  riding  into  New  Salem  who  put  an 
end  to  Lincoln's  canvassing  for  the  legislature,  freed  him 
from  OfTutt's  expiring  grocery,  and  led  him  to  enlist. 

There  was  no-  time  to  waste.  The  volunteers  were  ordered 
to  be  at  Beardstown,  nearly  forty  miles  from  New  Salem,  on 
April  22d.  Horses,  rifles,  saddles,  blankets  were  to  be  se- 
cured, a  company  formed.  It  was  work  of  which  the  settlers 
were  not  ignorant.  Under  the  laws  of  the  State  every  able- 
bodied  male  inhabitant  between  eighteen  and  forty-five  was 
obliged  to  drill  twice  a  year  or  pay  a  fine  of  one  dollar.  "As  a 
dollar  was  hard  to  raise,"  says  one  of  the  old  settlers,  "every- 
body drilled." 

Preparations  were  quickly  made,  and  by  April  22d  the  men 
were  at  Beardstown.  The  day  before,  at  Richland,  Sanga- 
mon  County,  Lincoln  was  elected  captain  of  the  company 
from  Sangamon. 

According  to  his  friend  Greene  it  was  something  beside 
ambition  which  led  him  to  seek  the  captaincy.  One  of  the 
"odd  jobs"  which  Lincoln  had  taken  since  coming 
into  Illinois  was  working  in  a  saw-mill  for  a  man 
named  Kirkpatrick.  In  hiring  Lincoln,  Kirkpatrick 
had  promised  to  buy  him  a  cant-hook  with  which 
to  move  heavy  logs.  Lincoln  had  proposed,  if  Kirk- 
patrick would  give  him  the  two  dollars  which  the  cant- 
hook  would  cost,  to  move  the  logs  with  a  common  hand- 


76  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

spike.  This  the  proprietor  had  agreed  to,  but  when  pay-day 
came  he  refused  to  keep  his  word.  When  the  Sangamon  com- 
pany of  volunteers  was  formed  Kirkpatrick  aspired  to  the 
captaincy,  and  Lincoln  knowing  it,  said  to  Greene :  "Bill,  I 
believe  I  can  make  Kirkpatrick  pay  me  that  two  dollars  he 
owes  me  on  the  cant-hook.  I'll  run  against  him  for  captain." 
And  he  became  a  candidate.  The  vote  was  taken  in  a  field,  by 
directing  the  men  at  the  command  "march"  to  assemble 
around  the  one  they  wanted  for  captain.  When  the  order  was 
given,  three-fourths  of  the  men  gathered  around  Lincoln.  In 
Lincoln's  third-person  autobiography  he  says  he  was  elected 
"to  his  own  surprise;"  and  adds,  "He  says  he  has  not  since 
had  any  success  in  life  which  gave  him  so  much  satisfaction." 

The  company  was  a  motley  crowd  of  men.  Each  had  se- 
cured for  his  outfit  what  he  could  get,  and  no  two  were 
equipped  alike.  Buckskin  breeches  prevailed,  and  there 
was  a  sprinkling  of  coon-skin  caps.  Each  man  had  a 
blanket  of  the  coarsest  texture.  Flint-lock  rifles  were  the 
usual  arm,  though  here  and  there  a  man  had  a  Cramer.  Over 
the  shoulder  of  each  was  slung  a  powder-horn.  The  men  had, 
as  a  rule,  as  little  regard  for  discipline  as  for  appearances, 
and  when  the  new  captain  gave  an  order  were  as  likely  to  jeer 
at  it  as  to  obey  it.  To  drive  the  Indians  out  was  their  mission, 
and  any  order  which  did  not  bear  directly  on  that  point  was 
little  respected.  Lincoln  himself  was  not  familiar  with  mili- 
tary tactics,  and  made  many  blunders  of  which  he  used  to  tell 
afterwards  with  relish.  One  of  these  was  an  early  experience 
in  giving  orders.  He  was  marching  with  a  front  of  over 
twenty  men  across  a  field,  when  he  desired  to  pass  through 
a  gateway  into  the  next  inclosure. 

"I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me,"  said  he,  "remember  the 
proper  word  of  command  for  getting  my  company  endwise, 
so  that  it  could  get  through  the  gate ;  so,  as  we  came  near  I 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  77 

shouted :  'This  company  is  dismissed  for  two  minutes,  when 
it  will  fall  in  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate !" 

Nor  was  it  only  his  ignorance  of  the  manual  which  caused 
him  trouble.  He  was  so  unfamiliar  with  camp  discipline  that 
he  once  had  his  sword  taken  from  him  for  shooting  within 
limits.  Another  disgrace  he  suffered  was  on  account  of  his 
disorderly  company.  The  men,  unknown  to  him,  stole  a  quan- 
tity of  liquor  one  night,  and  the  next  morning  were  too  drunk 
to  fall  in  when  the  order  was  given  to  march.  For  their  law- 
lessness Lincoln  wore  a  wooden  sword  two  days. 

But  none  of  these  small  difficulties  injured  his  standing 
with  the  company.  They  soon  grew  so  proud  of  his  quick 
wit  and  great  strength  that  they  obeyed  him  because  they 
admired  him.  No  amount  of  military  tactics  could  have  se- 
cured from  the  volunteers  the  cheerful  following  he  won  by 
his  personal  qualities. 

The  men  soon  learned,  too,  that  he  meant  what  he  said, 
and  would  permit  no  dishonorable  performances.  A  helpless 
Indian  took  refuge  in  the  camp  one  day;  and  the  men,  who 
were  inspired  by  that  wanton  mixture  of  selfishness,  un- 
reason, and  cruelty  which  seems  to  seize  a  frontiersman  as 
soon  as  he  scents  a  red  man — were  determined  to  kill  the 
refugee.  He  had  a  safe  conduct  from  General  Cass ;  but  the 
men,  having  come  out  to  kill  Indians  and  not  having  suc- 
ceeded, threatened  to  take  revenge  on  the  helpless  savage. 
Lincoln  boldly  took  the  man's  part,  and  though  he  risked  his 
life  in  doing  it,  he  cowed  the  company  and  saved  the  Indian. 

It  was  on  the  27th  of  April  that  the  force  of  sixteen  hun- 
dred men  organized  at  Beardstown  started  out.  The  day 
was  cold,  the  roads  heavy,  the  streams  turbulent.  The  army 
marched  first  to  Yellow  Banks  on  the  Mississippi,  then  to 
Dixon  on  the  Rock  river,  which  they  reached  on  May  12. 
At  Dixon  they  camped,  and  near  here  occurred  the  first 
bloodshed  of  the  war. 


78  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

A  body  of  about  three  hundred  and  forty  rangers,  unde* 
Major  Stillman,  but  not  of  the  regular  army,  asked  to  go 
ahead  as  scouts,  to  look  for  a  body  of  Indians  under  Black 
Hawk,  rumored  to  be  about  twelve  miles  away.  The 
permission  was  given,  and  on  the  night  of  the  I4th 
of  May,  Stillman  and  his  men  went  into  camp.  Black 
Hawk  heard  of  their  presence.  By  this  time  the  poor 
old  chief  had  discovered  that  the  promises  of  aid 
from  the  Indian  tribes  and  the  British  were  false,  and 
dismayed,  he  had  resolved  to  recross  the  Mississippi. 
When  he  heard  the  whites  were  near  he  sent  three  braves 
with  a  white  flag  to  ask  for  a  parley  and  permission  to  de- 
scend the  river.  Behind  them  he  sent  five  men  to  watch 
proceedings.  Stillman's  rangers  were  in  camp  when  the 
bearers  of  the  flag  of  truce  appeared.  The  men  were  many 
of  them  half  drunk,  and  when  they  saw  the  Indian  truce- 
bearers,  they  rushed  out  in  a  wild  mob,  and  ran  them  into 
camp.  Then  catching  sight  of  the  five  spies,  they 
started  after  them,  killing  two.  The  three  who 
reached  Black  Hawk  reported  that  the  truce-bearers 
had  been  killed  as  well  as  their  two  companions. 
Furious  at  this  violation  of  faith,  Black  Hawk 
"raised  a  yell,"  and  sallied  forth  with  forty  braves  to  meet 
Stillman's  band,  who  by  this  time  were  out  in  search  of  the 
Indians.  Black  Hawk,  too  maddened  to  think  of  the  dif- 
ference of  numbers,  attacked  the  whites.  To  his  surprise 
the  enemy  turned,  and  fled  in  a  wild  riot.  Nor  did  they  stop 
at  the  camp,  which  from  its  position  was  almost  impreg- 
nable ;  they  fled  in  complete  panic,  sauve  qui  peut,  through 
their  camp,  across  prairie  and  rivers  and  swamps,  to  Dixon, 
twelve  miles  away.  The  first  arrival  reported  that  two  thou- 
sand savages  had  swept  down  on  Stillman's  camp  and 
slaughtered  all  but  himself.  Before  the  next  night  all  but 
eleven  of  the  band  had  arrived. 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  79 

Stillman's  Defeat,  as  this  disgraceful  affair  is  called,  put  all 
notion  of  peace  out  of  Black  Hawk's  mind,  and  he  started 
out  in  earnest  on  the  warpath.  Governor  Reynolds,  excited 
by  the  reports  of  the  first  arrivals  from  the  Stillman  stam- 
pede, made  out  that  night,  "by  candle  light/'  a  call  for  more 
volunteers,  and  by  the  morning  of  the  I5th  had  messengers 
out  and  his  army  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk.  But  it  was  like 
pursuing  a  shadow.  The  Indians  purposely  confused  their 
trail.  Sometimes  it  was  a  broad  path,  then  it  suddenly  radi- 
ated to  all  points.  The  whites  broke  their  bands,  and  pur- 
sued the  savages  here  and  there,  never  overtaking  them, 
though  now  and  then  coming  suddenly  on  some  terrible  evi- 
dences of  their  presence — a  frontier  home  deserted  and 
burned,  slaughtered  cattle,  scalps  suspended  where  the  army 
could  not  fail  to  see  them. 

This  fruitless  warfare  exasperated  the  volunteers;  they 
threatened  to  leave,  and  their  officers  had  great  difficulty  in 
making  them  obey  orders.  On  reaching  a  point  in  the  Rock 
river,  Beyond  which  lay  the  Indian  country,  a  company 
under  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor  refused  to  cross,  and  held  a 
public  indignation  meeting,  urging  that  they  had  volunteered 
to  defend  the  State,  and  had  the  right,  as  independent  Ameri- 
can citizens,  to  refuse  to  go  out  of  its  borders.  Taylor  heard 
them  to  the  end,  and  then  spoke :  "I  feel  that  all  gentlemen 
here  are  my  equals ;  in  reality,  I  am  persuaded  that  many  of 
them  will,  in  a  few  years,  be  my  superiors,  and  perhaps,  in 
the  capacity  of  members  of  Congress,  arbiters  of  the  fortunes 
and  reputation  of  humble  servants  of  the  republic, 
like  myself.  I  expect  then  to  obey  them  as  interpreters 
of  the  will  of  the  people;  and  the  best  proof  that  I 
will  obey  them  is  now  to  observe  the  orders  of  those  whom 
the  people  have  already  put  in  the  place  of  authority  to  which 
many  gentlemen  around  me  justly  aspire.  In  plain  English, 
gentlemen  and  fellow-citizens,  the  word  has  been  passed  on 


8o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

to  me  from  Washington  to  follow  Black  Hawk  and  to  take 
you  with  me  as  soldiers.  I  mean  to  do  both.  There  are 
the  flat-boats  drawn  up  on  the  shore,  and  here  are  Uncle 
Sam's  men  drawn  up  behind  you  on  the  prairie."  The  volun- 
teers knew  true  grit  when  they  met  it.  They  dissolved  their 
meeting  and  crossed  the  river  without  Uncle  Sam's  men 
being  called  into  action. 

The  march  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians  led  the  army  to 
Ottawa,  where  the  volunteers  became  so  dissatisfied  that  on 
May  27  and  28  Governor  Reynolds  mustered  them  out. 
But  a  force  in  the  field  was  essential  until  a  new  levy  was 
raised ;  and  a  few  of  the  men  were  patriotic  enough  to  offer 
their  services,  among  them  Lincoln,  who  on  May  29  was 
mustered  in  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  river  by  a  man  in  whom, 
thirty  years  later,  he  was  to  have  a  keen  interest — General 
Robert  Anderson,  commander  at  Fort  Sumter  in  1861.  Lin- 
coln became  a  private  in  Captain  Elijah  Iles's  company  of 
Independent  Rangers,  not  brigaded — a  company  made  up, 
says  Captain  lies  in  his  "Footsteps  and  Wanderings,"  of 
"generals,  colonels,  captains,  and  distinguished  men  from 
the  disbanded  army."  General  Anderson  says  that  at  this 
muster  Lincoln's  arms  were  valued  at  forty  dollars,  his  horse 
and  equipment  at  one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars.  The  In- 
dependent Rangers  were  a  favored  body,  used  to  carry  mes- 
sages and  to  spy  on  the  enemy.  They  had  no  camp  duties, 
and  "drew  rations  as  often  as  they  pleased."  So  that  as  a 
private  Lincoln  was  really  better  off  than  as  a  captain.* 

The  achievements  and  tribulations  of  this  body  of  rangers 

*William  Cullen  Bryant,  who  was  in  Illinois  in  1832  at  the  time  of 
the  Black  Hawk  War,  used  to  tell  of  meeting  in  his  travels  in  the  State  a 
company  of  Illinois  volunteers,  commanded  by  a  "raw  youth"  of  "quaint 
and  pleasant"  speech,  and  of  learning  afterwards  that  this  captain  was 
Abraham  Lincoln.  As  Lincoln's  captaincy  ended  on  May  27th,  and  Mr. 
Bryant  did  not  reach  Illinois  until  June  I2th,  and  as  he  never  came 
nearer  than  fifty  miles  to  the  Rapids  of  the  Illinois,  where  the  body  of 
rangers  to  which  Lincoln  belonged  was  encamped  it  is  evident  that  t-he 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  8 1 

to  which  he  belonged  are  told  with  interesting  detail  by  its 
commanding  officer,  Captain  lies,  in  his  "Footsteps  and 
Wanderings." 

While  the  other  companies  were  ordered  to  scout  the 
country,  he  writes,  mine  was  held  by  General  Atkin- 
son in  camp  as  a  reserve.  One  company  was  ordered  to  go 
to  Rock  River  (now  Dixon)  and  report  to  Colonel  Taylor 
(afterwards  President)  who  had  been  left  there  with  a  few 
United  States  soldiers  to  guard  the  army  supplies.  The 
place  was  also  made  a  point  of  rendezvous.  Just  as  the  com- 
pany got  to  Dixon,  a  man  came  in,  and  reported  that  he  and 
six  others  were  on  the  road  to  Galena,  and,  in  passing 
through  a  point  of  timber  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Dixon, 
they  were  fired  on  and  six  killed,  he  being  the  only  one  to 
make  his  escape.  .  .  .  Colonel  Taylor  ordered  the  com- 
pany to  proceed  to  the  place,  bury  the  dead,  go  on  to  Galena, 
and  get  all  the  information  they  could  about  the  Indians. 
But  the  company  took  fright,  and  came  back  to  the  Illinois 
river,  helter-skelter. 

General  Atkinson  then  called  on  me,  and  wanted  to  know 
how  I  felt  about  taking  the  trip;  that  he  was  exceedingly 
anxious  to  open  communication  with  Galena,  and  to  find  out, 
if  possible,  the  whereabouts  of  the  Indians  before  the  new 
troops  arrived.  I  answered  the  general  that  myself  and  men 
were  getting  rusty,  and  were  anxious  to  have  something  to 
do,  and  that  nothing  would  please  us  better  than  to  be  or- 
dered out  on  an  expedition ;  that  I  would  find  out  how  many 
of  my  men  had  good  horses  and  were  otherwise  well  equip- 
ped, and  what  time  we  wanted  to  prepare  for  the  trip.  I 
called  on  him  again  at  sunset,  and  reported  that  I  had  about 
fifty  men  well  equipped  and  eager,  and  that  we  wanted  one 
day  to  make  preparations.  He  said  go  ahead,  and  he  would 
prepare  our  orders. 

The  next  day  was  a  busy  one,  running  bullets  and  get- 
ting our  flint-locks  in  order — we  had  no  percussion  locks 
then.  General  Henry,  one  of  my  privates,  who  had  been 
promoted  to  the  position  of  major  of  one  of  the  companies, 

"raw  youth"  could  not  have  been  Lincoln,  much  as  one  would  like  to 
believe  that  it  was. 

(6) 


82  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

volunteered  to  go  with  us.  I  considered  him  a  host,  as  he 
had  served  as  lieutenant  in  the  War  of  1812,  under  General 
Scott,  and  was  in  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane,  and  several 
other  battles.  He  was  a  good  drill  officer,  and  could  aid  me 
much.  .  .  .  After  General  Atkinson  handed  me  my  or- 
ders, and  my  men  were  mounted  and  ready  for  the  trip,  I 
felt  proud  of  them,  and  was  confident  of  our  success,  al- 
though numbering  only  forty-eight.  Several  good  men 
failed  to  go,  as  they  had  gone  down  to  the  foot  of  the  Illinois 
rapids,  to  aid  in  bringing  up  the  boats  of  army  supplies.  We 
wanted  to  be  as  little  encumbered  as  possible,  and  took  noth- 
ing that  could  be  dispensed  with,  other  than  blankets,  tin 
cups,  coffee-pots,  canteens,  a  wallet  of  bread,  and  some  fat 
side  meat,  which  we  ate  raw  or  broiled. 

When  we  arrived  at  Rock  River,  we  found  Colonel  Tay- 
lor on  the  opposite  side,  in  a  little  fort  built  of  prairie  sod. 
He  sent  an  officer  in  a  canoe  to  bring  me  over.  I  said  to  the 
officer  that  I  would  come  over  as  soon  as  I  got  my  men  in 
camp.  I  knew  of  a  good  spring  half  a  mile  above,  and  I  de- 
termined to  camp  at  it.  After  the  men  were  in  camp  I  called 
on  General  Henry,  and  he  accompanied  me.  On  meeting 
Colonel  Taylor  (he  looked  like  a  man  born  to  command)  he 
seemed  a  little  piqued  that  I  did  not  come  over  and  camp  with 
him.  I  told  him  we  felt  just  as  safe  as  if  quartered  in  his  one- 
horse  fort;  besides,  I  knew  what  his  orders  would  be,  and 
wanted  to  try  the  mettle  of  my  men  before  starting  on  the 
perilous  trip  I  knew  he  would  order.  He  said  the  trip  was 
perilous,  and  that  since  the  murder  of  the  six  men  all  com- 
munications with  Galena  had  been  cut  off,  and  it  might  be 
besieged ;  that  he  wanted  me  to  proceed  to  Galena,  and  that 
he  would  have  my  orders  for  me  in  the  morning,  and  asked 
what  outfit  I  wanted.  I  answered  "Nothing  but  coffee,  side 
meat  and  bread." 

In  the  morning  my  orders  were  to  collect  and  bury  the  re- 
mains of  the  six  men  murdered,  proceed  to  Galena,  make  a 
careful  search  for  the  signs  of  Indians,  and  find  out  whether 
they  were  aiming  to  escape  by  crossing  the  river  below  Gal- 
ena, and  get  all  information  at  Galena  of  their  possible 
whereabouts  before  the  new  troops  were  ready  to  'follow 
them. 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  83 

John  Dixon,  who  kept  a  house  of  entertainment  here, 
and  had  sent  his  family  to  Galena  for  safety,  joined  us,  and 
hauled  our  wallets  of  corn  and  grub  in  his  wagon,  which  was 
a  great  help.  Lieutenant  Harris,  U.  S.  A.,  also  joined  us. 
I  now  had  fifty  men  to  go  with  me  on  the  march.  I  detailed 
two  to  march  on  the  right,  two  on  the  left,  and  two  in  ad- 
vance, to  act  as  look-outs  to  prevent  a  surprise.  They  were 
to  keep  in  full  view  of  us,  and  to  remain  out  until  we  camped 
for  the  night.  Just  at  sundown  of  the  first  day,  while  we 
were  at  lunch,  our  advance  scouts  came  in  under  whip  and 
reported  Indians.  We  bounced  to  our  feet,  and,  having  a 
full  view  of  the  road  for  a  long  distance,  could  see  a  large 
body  coming  toward  us.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  John 
Dixon,  who,  as  the  last  one  dropped  out  of  sight  coming  over 
a  ridge,  pronounced  them  Indians.  I  stationed  my  men  in  a 
ravine  crossing  the  road,  where  anyone  approaching  could 
not  see  us  until  within  thirty  yards ;  the  horses  I  had  driven 
back  out  of  sight  in  a  valley.  I  asked  General  Henry  to  take 
command.  He  said,  "No;  stand  at  your  post,"  and  walked 
along  the  line,  talking  to  the  men  in  a  low,  calm  voice.  Lieu- 
tenant Harris,  U.  S.  A.,  seemed  much  agitated;  he  ran  up 
and  down  the  line,  and  exclaimed,  " Captain,  we  will  catch 
hell!"  He  had  horse-pistols,  belt-pistols,  and  a  double-bar- 
reled gun.  He  would  pick  the  flints,  reprime,  and  lay  the 
horse-pistols  at  his  feet.  When  he  got  all  ready  he  passed 
(along  the  line  slowly,  and  seeing  the  nerves  of  the  men  all 
quiet — after  General  Henry's  talk  to  them — said,  " Captain, 
we  are  safe;  we  can  whip  five  hundred  Indians."  Instead  of 
Indians,  they  proved  to  be  the  command  of  General  Dodge, 
from  Galena,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  en  route,  to  find 
out  what  had  become  of  General  Atkinson's  army,  as,  since 
the  murder  of  the  six  men,  communication  had  been  stopped 
for  more  than  ten  days.  My  look-out  at  the  top  of  the  hill 
did  not  notify  us,  and  we  were  not  undeceived  until  they  got 
within  thirty  steps  of  us.  My  men  then  raised  a  yell  and 
ran  to  finish  their  lunch. 

When  we  got  within  fifteen  miles  of  Galena,  on  Apple 
Creek,  we  found  a  stockade  filled  with  women  and  children 
and  a  few  men,  all  terribly  frightened.  The  Indians  had 
shot  at  and  chased  two  men  that  afternoon,  who  made  their 


54  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

escape  to  the  stockade.  They  insisted  on  our  quartering  in 
the  fort,  but  instead  we  camped  one  hundred  yards  outside, 
and  slept — what  little  sleep  we  did  get — with  our  guns  on  our 
arms.  General  Henry  did  not  sleep,  but  drilled  my  men  all 
night ;  so  the  moment  they  were  called  they  would  bounce  to 
their  feet  and  stand  in  two  lines,  the  front  ready  to  fire,  and 
fall  back  to  reload,  while  the  others  stepped  forward  to  take 
their  places.  They  were  called  up  a  number  of  times,  and  we 
got  but  little  sleep.  We  arrived  at  Galena  the  next  day,  and 
found  the  citizens  prepared  to  defend  the  place.  They  were 
glad  to  see  us,  as  it  had  been  so  long  since  they  had  heard 
from  General  Atkinson  and  his  army.  The  few  Indians 
prowling  about  Galena  and  murdering  were  simply  there  as 
a  ruse. 

On  our  return  from  Galena,  near  the  forks  of  the  Apple 
River  and  Gratiot  roads,  we  could  see  General  Dodge  on  the 
Gratiot  road,  on  his  return  from  Rock  River.  His  six  scouts 
had  discovered  my  two  men  that  I  had  allowed  to  drop  in  the 
rear — two  men  who  had  been  in  Stillman's  defeat,  and,  hav- 
ing weak  horses,  were  allowed  to  fall  behind.  Having  weak 
horses  they  had  fallen  in  the  rear  about  two  miles,  and  each 
took  the  other  to  be  Indians,  and  such  an  exciting  race  I 
never  saw,  until  they  got  sight  of  my  company ;  then  they 
came  to  a  sudden  halt,  and  after  looking  at  lis  a  few  mo- 
ments, wheeled  their  horses  and  gave  up  the  chase.  My  two 
men  did  not  know  but  that  they  were  Indians  until  they 
came  up  with  us  and  shouted  "Indians !"  They  had  thrown 
away  their  wallets  and  guns,  and  used  their  ramrods  as 
whips. 

The  few  houses  on  the  road  that  usually  accommodated 
the  travel  were  all  standing,  but  vacant,  as  we  went.  On 
our  return  we  found  them  burned  by  the  Indians.  On  my 
return  to  the  Illinois  River  I  reported  to  General  Atkinson, 
saying  that,  from  all  we  could  learn,  the  Indians  were  aim- 
ing to  escape  by  going  north,  with  the  intention  of  crossing 
the  Mississippi  river  above  Galena.  The  new  troops  had 
just  arrived  and  were  being  mustered  into  service.  My 
company  had  only  been  organized  for  twenty  days,  and 
as  the  time  had  now  expired,  the  men  were  mustered  out. 
All  but  myself  again  volunteered  for  the  third  time. 


determining      positively      ^ 
the  route  Lincoln  followed 
in  the  Black  Hawk   War. 
3JT  Only  the  general  direction  of 
the  marches  of  his  company 
are  indicated  here.     In  going 
from  Ottawa  to  Galena  and  back 
Captain  lies  may  have  very  well 
marched  his  company  through 
Dixon's  Ferry.    In  returning  from 
Whitewater  to  New  Salem,  Lincoln 
may  have  followed  the  river  to  Dixon 
There  were  undoubtedly  several  side 
marches  such  as  that  on  June  26,  from 
Dixon  to  Kellogg's  Grove  and  back, 
which  are  not  shown  in  this  map. 


9{i    L.L.F 


,.*.,    A 


Longitua. 


86  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

It  was  the  middle  of  June  when  Captain  lies  and  his  com- 
pany returned  to  Dixon's  Ferry  from  their  Indian  hunt  and 
were  mustered  out.  On  June  20  Lincoln  was  mustered  in 
again,  by  Major  Anderson,  as  a  member  of  an  independent 
company  under  Captain  Jacob  M.  Early.  His  arms  were 
valued  this  time  at  only  fifteen  dollars,  his  horse  and  equip- 
ments at  eighty-five  dollars. 

A  week  after  re-enlistment  Lincoln's  company  moved 
northward  with  the  army.  It  was  time  they  moved,  for 
Black  Hawk  was  overrunning  the  country,  and  scattering 
death  wherever  he  went.  The  settlers  were  wild  with  fear, 
and  most  of  the  settlements  were  abandoned.  At  a  sudden 
sound,  at  the  merest  rumor,  men,  women,  and  children  fled. 
"I  well  remember  these  troublesome  times,"  writes  one 
Illinois  woman.  "We  often  left  our  bread  dough  unbaked 
to  rush  to  the  Indian  fort  near  by."  When  Mr.  John  Bry- 
ant, a  brother  of  William  Cullen  Bryant,  visited  the  colony 
in  Princeton  in  1832,  he  found  it  nearly  broken  up  on  account 
of  the  war.  Everywhere  crops  were  neglected,  for  the  able- 
bodied  men  were  volunteering.  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
who,  in  June,  1834,  traveled  on  horseback  from  Peters- 
burg to  near  Pekin  and  back,  wrote  home :  "  Every  few 
miles  on  our  way  we  fell  in  with  bodies  of  Illinois  militia  pro- 
ceeding to  the  American  camp,  or  saw  where  they  had  en- 
camped for  the  night.  They  generally  stationed  themselves 
near  a  stream  or  a  spring  in  the  edge  of  a  wood,  and  turned 
their  horses  to  graze  on  the  prairie.  Their  way  was  barked 
or  girdled,  and  the  roads  through  the  uninhabited  country 
were  as  much  beaten  and  as  dusty  as  the  highways  on  New 
York  island.  Some  of  the  settlers  complained  that  they 
made  war  upon  the  pigs  and  chickens.  They  were  a  hard- 
looking  set  of  men,  unkempt  and  unshaved,  wearing  shirts  of 
dark  calico  and  sometimes  calico  capotes." 

Soon  after  the  army  moved  up  the  Rock  river,  the  inde- 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  87 

pendent  spy  company,  of  which  Lincoln  was  a  member,  was 
sent  with  a  brigade  to  the  northwest,  near  Galena,  in  pursuit 
of  the  Hawk.  The  nearest  Lincoln  came  to  an  actual 
engagement  in  the  war  was  here.  The  skirmish  of  Kellogg' s 
Grove  took  place  on  June  25 ;  Lincoln's  company  came  up 
soon  after  it  was  over,  and  helped  bury  the  five  men  killed. 
It  was  probably  to  this  experience  that  he  referred  when  he 
told  a  friend  once  of  coming  on  a  camp  of  white  scouts  one 
morning  just  as  the  sun  was  rising.  The  Indians  had  sur- 
prised the  camp,  and  had  killed  and  scalped  every  man. 

"I  remember  just  how  those  men  looked,"  said  Lincoln, 
"as  we  rode  up  the  little  hill  where  their  camp  was.  The  red 
light  of  the  morning  sun  was  streaming  upon  them  as  they 
lay  heads  towards  us  on  the  ground.  And  every  man  had  a 
round  red  spot  on  the  top  of  his  head  about  as  big  as  a  dollar, 
where  the  redskins  had  taken  his  scalp.  It  was  frightful, 
but  it  was  grotesque ;  and  the  red  sunlight  seemed  to  paint 
everything  all  over/'  Lincoln  paused,  as  if  recalling  the 
vivid  picture,  and  added,  somewhat  irrelevantly,  "I  remem- 
ber that  one  man  had  buckskin  breeches  on." 

Early's  company,  on  returning  from  their  expedition, 
joined  the  main  army  on  its  northward  march.  By  the  end 
of  the  month  the  troops  crossed  into  Michigan  Territory — 
as  Wisconsin  was  then  called — and  July  was  passed  floun- 
dering in  swamps  and  stumbling  through  forests,  in  pursuit 
of  the  now  nearly  exhausted  Black  Hawk.  No  doubt  Early's 
company  saw  the  hardest  service  on  the  march  for  to  it  was 
allotted  the  scouting.  The  farther  the  army  advanced  the 
more  difficult  was  the  situation.  Finally  the  provisions  gave 
out  and  July  10,  three  weeks  before  the  last  battle  of  the 
war,  that  of  Bad  Axe,  in  which  the  whites  finally  massacred 
most  of  the  Indian  band,  Lincoln's  company  was  disbanded 
at  Whitewater,  Wisconsin,  and  he  and  his  friends  started 
for  home.  The  volunteers  in  returning:  suffered  much  from 


88  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

hunger.  More  than  one  of  them  had  nothing  to  eat  on  the 
journey  except  meal  and  water  baked  in  rolls  of  bark  laid 
by  the  fire.  Lincoln  not  only  went  hungry  on  this  return; 
he  had  to  tramp  most  of  the  way.  The  night  before  his 
company  started  from  Whitewater  he  and  one  of  his  mess- 
mates had  their  horses  stolen;  and,  excepting  when  their 
more  fortunate  companions  gave  them  a  lift,  they  walked  as 
far  as  Peoria,  Illinois,  where  they  bought  a  canoe,  and  pad- 
dled down  the  Illinois  river  to  Havana.  Here  they  sold  the 
canoe,  and  walked  across  the  country  to  New  Salem. 


CHAPTER  VII 

LINCOLN    RUNS    FOR   STATE   ASSEMBLY   AND    IS   DEFEATED — 
STOREKEEPER STUDENT POSTMASTER SURVEYOR 

ON  returning  to  New  Salem  Lincoln  at  once  plunged 
into  "electioneering."  He  ran  as  "an  avowed  Clay  man/' 
and  the  country  was  stiffly  Democratic.  However,  in  those 
days  political  contests  were  almost  purely  personal.  If  the 
candidate  was  liked  he  was  voted  for  irrespective  of  prin- 
ciple. "The  Democrats  of  New  Salem  worked  for  Lincoln 
out  of  their  personal  regard  for  him,"  said  Stephen  T.  Lo- 
gan, a  young  lawyer  of  Springfield,  who  made  Lincoln's  ac- 
quaintance in  the  campaign.  "He  was  as  stiff  as  a  man 
could  be  in  his  Whig  doctrines.  They  did  this  for  him  sim- 
ply because  he  was  popular — because  he  was  Lincoln." 

It  was  the  custom  for  the  candidates  to  appear  at  every 
gathering  which  brought  the  people  out,  and,  if  they  had  a 
chance,  to  make  speeches.  Then,  as  now,  the  farmers  gath- 
ered at  the  county-seat  or  at  the  largest  town  within  their 
reach  on  Saturday  afternoons,  to  dispose  of  produce,  buy 
supplies,  see  their  neighbors,  and  get  the  news.  During 
"election  times"  candidates  were  always  present,  and  a  reg- 
ular feature  of  the  day  was  listening  to  their  speeches.  They 
never  missed  public  sales,  it  being  expected  that  after  the 
"vandoo"  the  candidates  would  take  the  auctioneer's  place. 

Lincoln  let  none  of  these  chances  to  be  heard  slip.  Ac- 
companied by  his  friends,  generally  including  a  few  Clary's 
Grove  Boys,  he  always  was  present.  The  first  speech  he 
made  was  after  a  sale  at  Pappsville.  What  he  said  there  is  not 
remembered ;  but  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  man  he  was, 

89 


90  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

interpolated  into  his  discourse,  made  a  lasting  impression, 
A  fight  broke  out  in  his  audience  while  he  was  on  the  stand, 
and  observing  that  one  of  his  friends  was  being  worsted,  he 
bounded  into  the  group  of  contestants,  seized  the  fellow  who 
had  his  supporter  down,  threw  him,  according  to  tradition, 
"ten  or  twelve  feet"  mounted  the  platform,  and  finished  the 
speech.  Sangamon  County  could  appreciate  such  a  perform- 
ance ;  and  the  crowd  at  Pappsville  that  day  never  forgot  Lin- 
coln. 

His  visits  to  Springfield  were  of  great  importance  to  him. 
Springfield  was  not  at  that  time  a  very  attractive  place. 
Bryant,  visiting  it  in  June,  1832,  said  that  the  houses  were 
not  as  good  as  at  Jacksonville,  "a  considerable  proportion  of 
them  being  log  cabins,  and  the  whole  town  having  an  appear- 
ance of  dirt  and  discomfort."  Nevertheless  it  was  the  largest 
town  in  the  county,  and  among  its  inhabitants  were  many 
young  men  of  breeding,  education,  and  energy.  One  of  these 
men  Lincoln  had  become  well  acquainted  with  in  the  Black 
Hawk  War  * — Major  John  T.  Stuart,  at  that  time  a  lawyer, 
and,  like  Lincoln,  a  candidate  for  the  General  Assembly.  He 
met  others  at  this  time  who  were  to  be  associated  with  him 

*There  were  many  prominent  Americans  in  the  Black  Hawk  War, 
with  some  of  whom  Lincoln  became  acquainted.  Among  the  best  known 
were  General  Robert  Anderson ;  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor ;  General  Scott, 
afterwards  candidate  for  President,  and  Lieutenant-General ;  Henry 
Dodge,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and  United  States 
Senator ;  Hon.  William  D.  Ewing  and  Hon.  Sidney  Breese,  both  United 
States  Senators  from  Illinois ;  William  S.  Hamilton,  a  son  of  Alexander 
Hamilton;  Colonel  Nathan  Boone,  son  of  Daniel  Boone;  Lieutenant 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  afterwards  a  Confederate  General ;  also  Jeffer- 
son Davis,  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Davis  was  at  this 
time  a  lieutenant  stationed  at  Fort  Crawford.  According  to  the  muster 
rolls  of  his  company  he  was  absent  on  furlough  from  March  26  to 
August  18,  1832,  but,  according  to  Davis's  own  statement,  corroborated 
by  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois  who  served  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  Davis  returned  to  duty  as  soon  as  he  found  there  was  to  be  a 
war.  When  Black  Hawk  was  finally  captured  in  August,  after  the 
battle  of  Bad  Axe,he  was  sent  down  the  river  to  Jefferson  Barracks, 
under  the  charge  of  Lieutenant  Jefferson  Davis.  Black  Hawk,  in  his 
"Life,"  speaks  of  Davis  as  a  "good  and  brave  young  chief,  with  whose 
conduct  I  was  much  pleased." 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  9* 

more  or  less  closely  in  the  future  in  both  law  and  politics, 
among  them  Judge  Logan  and  William  Butler.  With  these 
men  the  manners  which  had  won  him  the  day  at  Pappsville 
were  of  little  value ;  what  impressed  them  was  his  "very  sen- 
sible speech/'  and  his  decided  individuality  and  originality. 

The  election  came  off  on  August  6th.  Lincoln  was  de- 
feated. "This  was  the  only  time  Abraham  was  ever  de- 
feated on  a  direct  vote  of  the  people,"  says  his  autobiographi- 
cal notes.  He  had  a  consolation  in  his  defeat,  however,  for 
in  spite  of  the  pronounced  Democratic  sentiments  of  his  pre- 
cinct, he  received,  according  to  the  official  poll-book  in  the 
county  clerk's  office  at  Springfield,  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  votes  out  of  three  hundred  cast. 

This  defeat  did  not  take  him  out  of  politics.  Six  weeks 
later  he  filled  his  first  civil  office,  that  of  clerk  of  the  Septem- 
ber election.  The  report  in  his  hand  still  exists,  his  first  offi- 
cial document.  In  the  following  years  few  elections  were 
held  in  New  Salem  at  which  Lincoln  did  not  act  as  clerk. 

The  election  over,  Lincoln  began  to  look  for  work.  One 
of  his  friends,  an  admirer  of  his  physical  strength,  advised 
him  to  become  a  blacksmith,  but  it  was  a  trade  which 
afforded  little  leisure  for  study,  and  for  meeting  and  talking 
with  men;  and  he  had  already  resolved,  it  is  evident,  that 
books  and  men  were  essential  to  him.  The  only  employ- 
ment in  New  Salem  which  offered  both  employment  and  the 
opportunities  he  sought,  was  clerking  in  a  store.  Now  the 
stores  in  New  Salem  were  in  more  need  of  customers  than 
of  clerks,  business  having  been  greatly  overdone.  In  the 
fall  of  1832  four  stores  offered  wares  to  the  one  hundred  in- 
habitants of  New  Salem.  The  most  pretentious  was  that  of 
Hill  and  McNeill,  which  carried  a  large  line  of  dry  goods. 
The  three  others,  owned  respectively  by  the  Herndon  broth- 
ers, Reuben  Radford,  and  James  Rutledge,  were  groceries. 

Failing  to  secure  employment  at  any  of  these  establish- 


92  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

ments,  Lincoln  resolved  to  buy  a  store.  He  was  not  long  in 
finding  an  opportunity  to  purchase.  James  Herndon  had 
already  sold  out  his  half  interest  in  Herndon  Brothers'  store 
to  William  F.  Berry;  and  Rowan  Herndon,  not  getting 
along  well  with  Berry,  was  only  too  glad  to  find  a  purchaser 
of  his  half  in  the  person  of  "Abe"  Lincoln.  Berry  was  as 
poor  as  Lincoln;  but  that  was  not  a  serious  obstacle,  for 
their  notes  were  accepted  for  the  Herndon  stock  of  goods. 
They  had  barely  hung  out  their  sign  when  something  hap- 
pened which  threw  another  store  into  their  hands.  Reuben 
Radford  had  made  himself  obnoxious  to  the  Clary's  Grove 
Boys,  and  one  night  they  broke  in  his  doors  and  windows, 
and  overturned  his  counters  and  sugar  barrels.  It  was  too 
much  for  Radford,  and  he  sold  out  next  day  to  William  G. 
Greene,  for  a  four-hundred-dollar  note  signed  by  Greene. 
At  the  latter's  request,  Lincoln  made  an  inventory  of  the 
stock,  and  offered  him  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  it — 
a  proposition  which  was  cheerfully  accepted.  Berry  and 
Lincoln,  being  unable  to  pay  cash,  assumed  the  four-hun- 
dred-dollar note  payable  to  Radford,  and  gave  Greene  their 
joint  note  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  little 
grocery  owned  by  James  Rutledge  was  the  next  to  suc- 
cumb. Berry  and  Lincoln  bought  it  at  a  bargain,  their 
joint  note  taking  the  place  of  cash.  The  three  stocks  were 
consolidated.  Their  aggregate  cost  must  have  been  not 
less  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Berry  and  Lincoln  had 
secured  a  monopoly  of  the  grocery  business  in  New  Salem. 
Within  a  few  weeks  two  penniless  men  had  become  the  pro- 
prietors of  three  stores,  and  had  stopped  buying  only  be- 
cause there  were  no  more  to  purchase. 

But  the  partnership,  it  was  soon  evident,  was  unfortunate. 
Berry,  though  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was 
according  to  tradition  "a  very  wicked  young  man,"  drinking, 
gambling:,  and  taking  an  active  part  in  all  the  disturbances 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  93 

of  the  neighborhood.  In  spite  of  the  bad  habits  of  his  part- 
ner, Lincoln  left  the  management  of  the  business  largely  to 
him.  It  was  his  love  of  books  which  was  responsible  for 
this  poor  business  management.  He  had  soon  discovered 
that  store-keeping  in  New  Salem,  after  all  duties  were  done, 
left  a  large  amount  of  leisure  on  a  man's  hands.  It  was  his 
chance  to  read,  and  he  scoured  the  town  for  books.  On 
pleasant  days  he  spent  hour  after  hour  stretched  under  a 
tree,  which  stood  just  outside  the  door  of  the  store,  reading 
the  works  he  had  picked  up.  If  it  rained  he  simply  made 
himself  comfortable  on  the  counter  within.  It  was  in  this 
period  that  Lincoln  discovered  Shakespeare  and  Burns.  In 
New  Salem  there  was  one  of  those  curious  individuals,  some- 
times found  in  frontier  settlements,  half  poet,  half  loafer,  in- 
capable of  earning  a  living  in  any  steady  employment,  yet 
familiar  with  good  literature  and  capable  of  enjoying  it — 
Jack  Kelso.  He  repeated  passages  from  Shakespeare  and 
Burns  incessantly,  over  the  odd  jobs  he  undertook,  or  as  he 
idled  by  the  streams — for  he  was  a  famous  fisherman — and 
Lincoln  soon  became  one  of  his  constant  companions.  The 
tastes  he  formed  in  company  with  Kelso  he  retained  through 
life. 

It  was  not  only  Burns  and  Shakespeare  that  interfered 
with  the  grocery  keeping;  Lincoln  had  begun  seriously  to 
read  law.  His  first  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  we  have 
already  seen,  had  been  made  when,  a  mere  lad,  a  copy  of  the 
"Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana"  had  fallen  into  his  hands. 

But  from  the  time  he  left  Indiana  in  1830  he  had  no  legal 
reading  until  one  day  soon  after  the  grocery  was  started, 
there  happened  one  of  those  trivial  incidents  which  so 
often  turn  the  current  of  a  life.  It  is  best  told  in  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's own  words.*  "One  day  a  man  who  was  migrating  to 

*This  incident  was  told  by  Lincoln  to  Mr.  A.  J.  Conant,  the  artist, 
who  in  1860  painted  his  portrait  in  Springfield.     Mr.  Conant,  in  order 


94  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  West  drove  up  in  front  of  my  store  with  a  wagon  which 
contained  his  family  and  household  plunder.  He  asked  me 
if  I  would  buy  an  old  barrel  for  which  he  had  no  room  in  his 
wagon,  and  which  he  said  contained  nothing  of  special  value. 
I  did  not  want  it,  but  to  oblige  him  I  bought  it,  and  paid  him, 
I  think,  half  a  dollar  for  it.  Without  further  examination  I 
put  it  away  in  the  store,  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Some  time 
after,  in  overhauling  things,  I  came  upon  the  barrel,  and 
emptying  it  upon  the  floor  to  see  what  it  contained,  I  found  at 
the  bottom  of  the  rubbish  a  complete  edition  of  Blackstone's 
Commentaries.  I  began  to  read  those  famous  works,  and  I 
had  plenty  of  time ;  for  during  the  long  summer  days,  when 
the  farmers  were  busy  with  their  crops,  my  customers  were 
few  and  far  between.  The  more  I  read" — this  he  said  with 
unusual  emphasis — "the  more  intensely  interested  I  became. 
Never  in  my  whole  life  was  my  mind  so  thoroughly  absorbed. 
I  read  until  I  devoured  them." 

But  all  this  was  fatal  to  business,  and  by  spring  it  was  evi- 
dent that  something  must  be  done  to  stimulate  the  grocery 
sales.  Liquor  selling  was  the  expedient  adopted,  for,  on  the 
6th  of  March,  1833,  tne  County  Commissioners'  Court  of 
Sangamon  County  granted  the  firm  of  Berry  and  Lincoln 
a  license  to  keep  a  tavern  at  New  Salem.  It  is  probable  that 
the  license  was  procured  not  to  enable  the  firm  to  keep  a 
tavern  but  to  retail  the  liquors  which  they  had  in  stock. 
Each  of  the  three  groceries  which  Berry  and  Lincoln  ac- 
quired had  the  usual  supply  of  liquors  and  it  was  only  natural 
that  they  should  seek  a  way  to  dispose  of  the  surplus  quickly 
and  profitably — an  end  Which  could  be  best  accomplished  by 
selling  it  over  the  counter  by  the  glass.  To  do  this  lawfully 

to  catch  Mr.  Lincoln's  pleasant  expression,  had  engaged  him  in  conver- 
sation, and  had  questioned  him  about  his  early  life ;  and  it  was  in  the 
course  of  their  conversation  that  this  incident  came  out.  It  is  to  be  found 
in  a  delightful  and  suggestive  article  entitled,  "My  Acquaintance  with 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  contributed  by  Mr.  Conant  to  the  ''Liber  Scrip- 
torum." 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  95 

required  a  tavern  license ;  and  it  is  a  warrantable  conclusion 
that  such  was  the  chief  aim  of  Berry  and  Lincoln  in  procur- 
ing a  franchise  of  this  character.  We  are  fortified  in  this 
conclusion  by  the  coincidence  that  three  other  grocers  of 
New  Salem  were  among  those  who  took  out  tavern  licenses. 

In  a  community  in  which  liquor  drinking  was  practically 
universal,  at  a  time  when  whiskey  was  as  legitimate  an  arti- 
cle of  merchandise  as  coffee  or  calico,  when  no  family  was 
without  a  jug,  when  the  minister  of  the  gospel  could  take  his 
"dram"  without  any  breach  of  propriety,  it  is  not  surprising* 
that  a  reputable  young  man  should  have  been  found  selling 
whiskey.  Liquor  was  sold  at  all  groceries,  but  it  could  not 
be  lawfully  sold  in  a  smaller  quantity  than  one  quart.  The 
law,  however,  was  not  always  rigidly  observed,  and  it  was 
the  custom  of  storekeepers  to  treat  their  patrons. 

The  license  issued  to  Berry  and  Lincoln  read  as  follows : 

Ordered  that  William  F.  Berry,  in  the  name  of  Berry  and 
Lincoln,  have  a  license  to  keep  a  tavern  in  New  Salem  to  con- 
tinue 12  months  from  this  date,  and  that  they  pay  one  dollar 
in  addition  to  the  six  dollars  heretofore  paid  as  per  Treas- 
urer's receipt,  and  that  they  be  allowed  the  following  rates 
(viz.)  : 

French  Brandy  per  -J  pt 25 

Peach         "         "     "     i8J 

Apple         "         "     "     12 

Holland  Gin        "     "     i8J 

Domestic  "     "     12^ 

Wine  "     "     25" 

Rum  "     "     i8| 

Whiskey  "     "     12^ 

Breakfast,  dinner  or  supper 25 

Lodging  per  night 12^ 

Horse  per  night 25 

Single  feed ,  \2\ 

Breakfast,  dinner  or  supper  for  Stage  Passengers . . , . 
who  gave  bond  as  required  by  law. 


96  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

At  the  granting  of  a  tavern  license,  the  applicants  there- 
for were  required  by  law  to  file  a  bond.  The  bond  given  in 
the  case  of  Berry  and  Lincoln  was  as  follows : 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  we,  William  F.  Berry, 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  Bowling  Green,  are  held  and 
firmly  bound  unto  the  County  Commissioners  of  Sangamon 
county  in  the  full  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  which 
payment  well  and  truly  to  be  made  we  bind  ourselves,  our 
heirs,  executors  and  administrators  firmly  by  these  presents, 
.sealed  with  our  seal  and  dated  this  6th  day  of  March  A.  D. 
1833.  Now  the  condition  of  this  obligation  is  such  that 
Whereas  the  said  Berry  &  Lincoln  has  obtained  a  license 
from  the  County  Commissioners'  Court  to  keep  a  tavern  in 
the  town  of  New  Salem  to  continue  one  year.  Now  if  the 
said  Berry  &  Lincoln  shall  be  of  good  behavior  and  observe 
all  the  laws  of  this  State  relative  to  tavern  keepers — then 
this  obligation  to  be  void  or  otherwise  remain  in  full  force. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN    [Seal" 
WM.  F.  BERRY  [Sear 

BOWLING  GREEN         [Seal" 

This  bond  appears  to  have  been  written  by  the  clerk  of  the 
Commissioners'  Court;  and  Lincoln's  name  was  signed  by 
some  other  than  himself,  very  likely  by  his  partner 
Berry. 

Business  was  not  so  brisk  in  Berry  and  Lincoln's  gro- 
cery, even  after  the  license  was  granted,  that  the  junior  part- 
ner did  not  welcome  an  appointment  as  postmaster  which  he 
received  in  May,  1833.  The  appointment  of  a  Whig  by  a 
Democratic  administration  seems  to  have  been  made  without 
comment.  "The  office  was  too  insignificant  to  make  his  poli- 
tics an  objection,"  say  his  autobiographical  notes.  The  du- 
ties of  the  new  office  were  not  arduous,  for  letters  were  few, 
and  their  comings  far  between.  At  that  date  the  mails  were 
carried  by  four-horse  post-coaches  from  city  to  city,  and  on 
horseback  from  central  points  into  the  country  towns.  The 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  97 

rates  of  postage  were  high.  A  single-sheet  letter  carried 
thirty  miles  or  under  cost  six  cents ;  thirty  to  eighty  miles, 
ten  cents ;  eighty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  twelve  and 
one-half  cents ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  miles, 
eighteen  and  one-half  cents;  over  four  hundred  miles, 


-Jc 

re/i^u. 


QZ?  fy+U~  *XM*4f  &&  4+*j*L  &+*" 
/3*-*Jt*ZjSZ~  ^^  tBE,  .  A**t+£*S ±4*..  rf*~tw fi«f&*  ~  ~A 
Jtf****  &£<&  Jt**^*****-  OZC~  *y9**A^-  A+AMAjtt&t 


FACSIMILE  OP  JL  LETTER  WRITTEN  BY  POSTMASTER  LINOOLW 

Reproduced  by  permission  from  **  Menard-Salem-Lincoln  Souvenir  Album." 
Petersburg,  1893. 

twenty-five  cents.  A  copy  of  one  of  the  popular  magazines 
sent  from  New  York  to  New  Salem  would  have  cost  fully 
twenty-five  cents.  The  mail  was  irregular  in  coming  as  well 
as  light  in  its  contents.  Though  supposed  to  arrive  twice  a 
week,  it  sometimes  happened  that  a  fortnight  or  more  passed 
(7) 


9»  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

without  any  mail.  Under  these  conditions  the  New  Salem 
post-office  was  not  a  serious  care. 

A  large  number  of  the  patrons  of  the  office  lived  in  the 
country — many  of  them  miles  away — and  generally  Lincoln 
delivered  their  letters  at  their  doors.  These  letters  he  would 
carefully  place  in  the  crown  of  his  hat,  and  distribute  them 
from  house  to  house.  Thus  it  was  in  a  measure  true  that  he 
kept  the  New  Salem  post-office  in  his  hat.  The  habit  of  car- 
rying papers  in  his  hat  clung  to  Lincoln;  for,  many  years 
later,  when  he  was  a  practising  lawyer  in  Springfield,  he 
apologized  for  failing  to  answer  a  letter  promptly,  by  ex- 
plaining: "When  I  received  your  letter  I  put  it  in  my  old 
hat,  and  buying  a  new  one  the  next  day,  the  old  one  was  set 
aside,  and  so  the  letter  was  lost  sight  of  for  a  time." 

But  whether  the  mail  was  delivered  by  the  postmaster  him- 
self, or  was  received  at  the  store  it  was  the  habit  "to  stop  and 
visit  awhile."  He  who  received  a  letter  read  it  and  repeated 
the  contents ;  if  he  had  a  newspaper,  usually  the  postmaster 
could  tell  him  in  advance  what  it  contained,  for  one  of  the 
perquisites  of  the  early  post-office  was  the  privilege  of 
reading  all  printed  matter  before  delivering  it.  Every  day, 
then,  Lincoln's  acquaintance  in  New  Salem,  through  his 
position  as  postmaster,  became  more  intimate. 

As  the  summer  of  1833  went  on,  the  condition  of  the  store 
became  more  and  more  unsatisfactory.  As  the  position  of 
postmaster  brought  in  only  a  small  revenue,  Lincoln  was 
forced  to  take  any  odd  work  he  could  get.  He  helped  in 
other  stores  in  the  town,  split  rails,  and  looked  after  the  mill ; 
but  all  this  yielded  only  a  scant  and  uncertain  support,  and 
when  in  the  fall  he  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  surveying,  he 
accepted  it  eagerly. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Illinois  in  the  early  thirties 
made  a  demand  for  the  service  of  surveyors.  The  immigra- 
tion had  been  phenomenal.  There  were  thousands  of  farms 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  99 

to  be  surveyed  and  thousands  of  corners  to  be  located. 
Speculators  bought  up  large  tracts  and  mapped  out  cities 
on  paper.  It  was  years  before  the  first  railroad  was  built  in 
Illinois,  and,  as  all  inland  traveling  was  on  horseback  or  in 
the  stage-coach,  eax;h  year  hundreds  of  miles  of  wagon  roads 
were  opened  through  woods  and  swamps  and  prairies.  As 
the  county  of  Sangamon  was  large,  and  eagerly  sought  by 
immigrants,  the  county  surveyor  in  1833,  one  Jonn  Calhoun, 
needed  deputies ;  but  in  a  country  so  new  it  was  no  easy  mat- 
ter to  find  men  with  the  requisite  capacity. 

With  Lincoln,  Calhoun  had  little,  if  any,  personal  ac- 
quaintance, for  they  lived  twenty  miles  apart.  Lincoln, 
however,  had  made  himself  known  by  his  meteoric  race  for 
the  legislature  in  1832,  and  Calhoun  had  heard  of  him  as  an 
honest,  intelligent,  and  trustworthy  young  man.  One  day 
he  sent  word  to  Lincoln  by  Pollard  Simmons,  who  lived  in 
the  New  Salem  neighborhood,  that  he  had  decided  to  appoint 
him  a  deputy  surveyor  if  he  would  accept  the  position. 

Going  into  the  woods,  Simmons  found  Lincoln  engaged 
in  his  old  occupation  of  making  rails.  The  two  sat  down 
together  on  a  log,  and  Simmons  told  Lincoln  what  Calhoun 
had  said.  Now  Calhoun  was  a  "Jackson  man;"  he  was  for 
Clay.  What  did  he  know  about  surveying,  and  why  should 
a  Democratic  official  offer  him  a  position  of  any  kind  ?  He 
immediately  went  to  Springfield,  and  had  a  talk  with  Cal- 
houn. He  would  not  accept  the  appointment,  he  said,  unless 
he  had  the  assurance  that  it  involved  no  political  obligation, 
and  that  he  might  continue  to  express  his  political  opinions 
as  freely  and  frequently  as  he  chose.  This  assurance  was 
given.  The  only  difficulty  then  in  the  way  was  the  fact  that 
he  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  surveying.  But  Calhoun,  of 
course,  understood  this,  and  agreed  that  he  should  have  time 
to  learn. 

With  the  promptness  of  action  with  which  he  always  un- 


100  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

dertook  anything  he  had  to  do,  Lincoln  procured  Flint  and 
Gibson's  treatise  on  surveying,  and  sought  Mentor  Graham 
for  help.  At  a  sacrifice  of  some  time,  the  schoolmaster  aided 
him  to  a  partial  mastery  of  the  intricate  subject.  Lincoln 
worked  literally  day  and  night,  sitting  up  night  after  night 
until  the  crowing  of  the  cock  warned  him  of  the  approaching 
dawn.  So  hard  did  he  study  that  his  friends  were  greatly 
concerned  at  his  haggard  face.  But  in  six  weeks  he  had  mas- 
tered all  the  books  within  reach  relating  to  the  subject — a 
task  which,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  hardly 
have  been  achieved  in  as  many  months.  Reporting  to  Cal- 
houn  for  duty  (greatly  to  the  amazement  of  that  gentle- 
man), he  was  at  once  assigned  to  the  territory  in  the  north- 
west part  of  the  county,  and  the  first  work  he  did  of  which 
there  is  any  authentic  record  was  in  January,  1834.  In  that 
month  he  surveyed  a  piece  of  land  for  Russell  Godby,  dating 
the  certificate  January  14,  1834,  and  signing  it  "J.  Calhoun, 
S.  S.  C,  by  A.  Lincoln." 

Lincoln  was  frequently  employed  in  laying  out  public 
roads,  being  selected  for  that  purpose  by  the  County  Com- 
missioners' Court.  So  far  as  can  be  learned  from  the  official 
records,  the  first  road  he  surveyed  was  "from  Mustek's  Ferry 
on  Salt  creek,  via  New  Salem,  to  the  county  line  in  the  di- 
rection of  Jacksonville."  For  this  he  was  allowed  fifteen  dol- 
lars for  five  days'  service,  and  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for 
a  plat  of  the  new  road.  The  next  road  he  surveyed,  accord- 
ing to  the  records,  was  that  leading  from  Athens  to  Sanga- 
mon  town.  This  was  reported  to  the  County  Commissioners' 
Court  November  4,  1834.  But  road  surveying  was  only  a 
small  portion  of  his  work.  He  was  more  frequently  em- 
ployed by  private  individuals. 

According  to  tradition,  when  he  first  took  up  the  business 
he  was  too  poor  to  buy  a  chain,  and,  instead,  used  a  long, 
straight  grape-vine.  Probably  this  is  a  myth,  though  sur- 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  IOI 

veyors  who  had  experience  in  the  early  days  say  it  may  be 
true.  The  chains  commonly  used  at  that  time  were  made  of 
iron.  Constant  use  wore  away  and  weakened  the  links,  and 
it  was  no  unusual  thing  for  a  chain  to  lengthen  six  inches 
after  a  year's  use.  "And  a  good  grape-vine,"  to  use  the  words 
of  a  veteran  surveyor,  "would  give  quite  as  satisfactory  re- 
sults as  one  of  those  old-fashioned  chains." 

Lincoln's  surveys  had  the  extraordinary  merit  of  being 
correct.  Much  of  the  government  work  had  been  rather  in- 
differently done,  or  the  government  corners  had  been  im- 
perfectly preserved,  and  there  were  frequent  disputes  be- 
tween adjacent  land-owners  about  boundary  lines.  Fre- 
quently Lincoln  was  called  upon  in  such  cases  to  find  the  cor- 
ner in  controversy.  His  verdict  was  invariably  the  end  of  the 
dispute,  so  general  was  the  confidence  in  his  honesty  and 
skill.  Some  of  these  old  corners  located  by  him  are  still  in  ex- 
istence. The  people  of  Petersburg  proudly  remember  that 
they  live  in  a  town  which  was  laid  out  by  Lincoln.  This  he 
did  in  1836,  and  it  was  the  work  of  several  weeks. 

Lincoln's  pay  as  a  surveyor  was  three  dollars  a  day,  more 
than  he  had  ever  before  earned.  Compared  with  the  compen- 
sation for  like  services  nowadays  it  seems  small  enough ;  but 
at  that  time  it  was  really  princely.  The  Governor  of  the  State 
received  a  salary  of  only  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  the 
Secretary  of  State  six  hundred  dollars,  and  good  board  and 
lodging  could  be  obtained  for  one  dollar  a  week.  But  even 
three  dollars  a  day  did  not  enable  him  to  meet  all  his  financial 
obligations.  The  heavy  debts  of  the  store  hung  over  him. 
He  was  obliged  to  help  his  father's  family.  The  long  dis- 
tances he  had  to  travel  in  his  new  employment  had  made  it 
necessary  to  buy  a  horse,  and  for  it  he  had  gone  into  debt. 

"My  father,"  says  Thomas  Watkins,  of  Petersburg,  who 
remembers  the  circumstances  well,  "sold  Lincoln  the  horse, 
and  my  recollection  is  that  Lincoln  agreed  to  pay  him  fifty 


£C     4t-€£»«-c«'*Xw»  e£*x*£**      -4^ 

./      ~>  7^  / 


CS3C 


PAOSIMILB  OF  A    EBPORT   OP   A    ROAD    SURVEY    BT    UNCOLW, 


FACSfMILB   OF    A.   MAP    MADE   BT    LINCOLN    OF    ROAD    IN   MENARD    COTJNTT,  ILL 


104  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

dollars  for  it.  Lincoln  was  a  little  slow  in  making  the  pay- 
ments, and  after  he  had  paid  all  but  ten  dollars,  my  father, 
who  was  a  high-strung  man,  became  impatient,  and  sued  him 
for  the  balance.  Lincoln,  of  course,  did  not  deny  the  debt, 
but  raised  the  money  and  paid  it.  I  do  not  often  tell  this,"  Mr. 
Watkins  adds,  "because  I  have  always  thought  there  never 
was  such  a  man  as  Lincoln,  and  I  have  always  been  sorry 
father  sued  him." 

Between  his  duties  as  deputy  surveyor  and  postmaster, 
Lincoln  had  little  leisure  for  the  store,  and  its  management 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Berry.  The  stock  of  groceries  was 
on  the  wane.  The  numerous  obligations  of  the  firm  were  ma- 
turing, with  no  money  to  meet  them.  Both  members  of  the 
firm,  in  the  face  of  such  obstacles,  lost  courage;  and  when, 
early  in  1834,  Alexander  and  William  Trent  asked  if  the 
store  was  for  sale,  an  affirmative  answer  was  eagerly  given. 
A  price  was  agreed  upon,  and  the  sale  was  made.  Now, 
neither  Alexander  Trent  nor  his  brother  had  any  money ;  but 
as  Berry  and  Lincoln  had  bought  without  money,  it  seemed 
only  fair  that  they  should  be  willing  to  sell  on  the  same  terms. 
Accordingly  the  notes  of  the  Trent  brothers  were  accepted 
for  the  purchase  price,  and  the  store  was  turned  over  to  the 
new  owners.  But  about  the  time  their  notes  fell  due  the 
Trent  brothers  disappeared.  The  few  groceries  in  the  store 
were  seized  by  creditors,  and  the  doors  were  closed,  never  to 
be  opened  again.  Misfortunes  now  crowded  upon  Lincoln. 
His  late  partner,  Berry,  soon  reached  the  end  of  his  wild  ca- 
reer, and  one  morning  a  farmer  from  the  Rock  Creek  neigh- 
borhood drove  into  New  Salem  with  the  news  that  he  was 
dead. 

The  appalling  debt  which  had  accumulated  was  thrown 
upon  Lincoln's  shoulders.  It  was  then  too  common  a  fashion 
among  men  who  became  deluged  in  debt  to  "clear  out,"  in 
the  expressive  language  of  the  pioneer,  as  the  Trents  had 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  105 

done;  but  this  was  not  Lincoln's  way.  He  quietly  settled 
down  among  the  men  he  owed,  and  promised  to  pay  them. 
For  fifteen  years  he  carried  this  burden — a  load  which  he 
cheerfully  and  manfully  bore,  but  one  so  heavy  that  he  habit- 
ually spoke  of  it  as  the  "national  debt."  Talking  once  of  it  to 
a  friend,  Lincoln  said :  "That  debt  was  the  greatest  obstacle 
I  have  ever  met  in  life;  I  had  no  way  of  speculating,  and 
could  not  earn  money  except  by  labor,  and  to  earn  by  labor 
eleven  hundred  dollars,  besides  my  living,  seemed  the  work 
of  a  lifetime.  There  was,  however,  but  one  way.  I  went  to 
the  creditors,  and  told  them  that  if  they  would  let  me  alone, 
I  would  give  them  all  I  could  earn  over  my  living,  as  fast  as 
I  could  earn  it."  As  late  as  1848,  so  we  are  informed  by  Mr. 
Herndon,  Mr.  Lincoln,  then  a  member  of  Congress,  sent 
home  money  saved  from  his  salary,  to  be  applied  on  these  ob- 
ligations. All  the  notes,  with  interest  at  the  high  rates  then 
prevailing,  were  at  last  paid. 

With  a  single  exception  Lincoln's  creditors  seemed  to  be 
lenient.  One  of  the  notes  given  by  him  came  into  the  hands 
of  a  Mr.  Van  Bergen,  who,  when  it  fell  due,  brought  suit. 
The  amount  of  the  judgment  was  more  than  Lincoln  could 
pay,  and  his  personal  effects  were  levied  upon. 'These  con- 
sisted of  his  horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  and  surveying  instru- 
ments. James  Short,  a  well-to-do  farmer  living  on  Sand 
Ridge,  a  few  miles  north  of  New  Salem,  heard  of  the  trouble 
which  had  befallen  his  young  friend.  Without  advising  Lin- 
coln of  his  plans,  he  attended  the  sale,  bought  in  the  horse 
and  surveying  instruments  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars, and  turned  them  over  to  their  former  owner. 

Lincoln  never  forgot  a  benefactor.  He  not  only  repaid  the 
money  with  interest,  but  nearly  thirty  years  later  remem- 
bered the  kindness  in  a  most  substantial  way.  After  Lincoln 
left  New  Salem  financial  reverses  came  to  James  Short,  and 
he  removed  to  the  far  West  to  seek  his  fortune  anew.  Early 


106  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

in  Lincoln's  presidential  term  he  heard  that  "Uncle  Jimmy" 
was  living  in  California.  One  day  Mr.  Short  received  a  let- 
ter from  Washington,  D.  C.  Tearing  it  open,  he  read  the 
gratifying  announcement  that  he  had  been  commissioned  an 
Indian  agent. 

The  kindness  of  Mr.  Short  was  not  exceptional  in  Lin- 
coln's New  Salem  career.  When  the  store  had  "winked  out," 
as  he  put  it,  and  the  post-office  had  been  left  without  head- 
quarters, one  of  his  neighbors,  Samuel  Hill,  invited  the 
homeless  postmaster  into  his  store.  There  was  hardly  a  man 
or  woman  in  the  community  who  would  not  have  been  glad 
to  have  done  as  much.  It  was  a  simple  recognition  on  their 
part  of  Lincoln's  friendliness  to  them.  He  was  what  they 
called  "obliging" — a  man  who  instinctively  did  the  thing 
which  he  saw  would  help  another,  no  matter  how  trivial  or 
homely  it  was.  In  the  home  of  Rowan  Herndon,  where  he 
had  boarded  when  he  first  came  to  the  town,  he  had  made 
himself  loved  by  his  care  of  the  children.  "He  nearly  always 
had  one  of  them  around  with  him,"  says  Mr.  Herndon.  In 
the  Rutledge  tavern,  where  he  afterwards  lived,  the  landlord 
told  with  appreciation  how,  when  his  house  was  full,  Lincoln 
gave  up  his  bed,  went  to  the  store,  and  slept  on  the  counter, 
his  pillow  a  web  of  calico.  If  a  traveler  "stuck  in  the  mud" 
in  New  Salem's  one  street,  Lincoln  was  always  the  first  to 
help  pull  out  the  wheel.  The  widows  praised  him  because  he 
"chopped  their  wood;"  the  overworked,  because  he  was  al- 
ways ready  to  give  them  a  lift.  It  was  the  spontaneous,  un- 
obtrusive helpfulness  of  the  man's  nature  which  endeared 
him  to  everybody  and  which  inspired  a  general  desire  to  do 
all  possible  in  return.  There  are  many  tales  told  of  homely 
service  rendered  him,  even  by  the  hard-working  farmers' 
wives  around  New  Salem.  There  was  not  one  of  them  who 
did  not  gladly  "put  on  a  plate"  for  Abe  Lincoln  when  he  ap- 
peared, or  would  not  darn  or  mend  for  him  when  she  knew 


RUNS  FOR  STATE  ASSEMBLY  107 

he  needed  it.  Hannah  Armstrong,  the  wife  of  the  hero  of 
Clary's  Grove,  made  him  one  of  her  family.  "Abe  would 
come  out  to  our  house,"  she  said,  "drink  milk,  eat  mush, 
cornbread  and  butter,  bring  the  children  candy,  and  rock  the 
cradle  while  I  got  him  something  to  eat.  .  .  .  Has  stayed 
at  our  house  two  or  three  weeks  at  a  time/'  Lincoln's  pay 
for  his  first  piece  of  surveying  came  in  the  shape  of  two  buck- 
skins, and  it  was  Hannah  who  "foxed"  them  on  his  trousers. 
His  relations  were  equally  friendly  in  the  better  homes  of 
the  community;  even  at  the  minister's,  the  Rev.  John  Cam- 
eron's, he  was  perfectly  at  home,  and  Mrs.  Cameron  was  by 
him  affectionately  called  "Aunt  Polly."  It  was  not  only  his 
kindly  service  which  made  Lincoln  loved;  it  was  his  sym- 
pathetic comprehension  of  the  lives  and  joys  and  sorrows  and 
interests  of  the  people.  Whether  it  was  Jack  Armstrong  and 
his  wrestling,  Hannah  and  her  babies,  Kelso  and  his  fishing 
and  poetry,  the  school-master  and  his  books — -with  one  and 
all  he  was  at  home.  He  possessed  in  an  extraordinary  degree 
the  power  of  entering  into  the  interests  of  others,  a  power 
found  only  in  reflective,  unselfish  natures  endowed  with  a 
humorous  sense  of  human  foibles,  coupled  with  great  tender- 
ness of  heart.  Men  and  women  amused  Lincoln,  but  so  long 
as  they  were  sincere  he  loved  them  and  sympathized  with 
them.  He  was  human  in  the  best  sense  of  that  fine  word. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  IN  1834 LINCOLN  READS  LAW 

FIRST 

SORROW 


FIRST  TERM  AS  ASSEMBLYMAN LINCOLN^  FIRST  GREAT 


Now  that  the  store  was  closed  and  his  surveying  increased, 
Lincoln  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  extend  his  acquaint- 
ance by  traveling  about  the  country.  Everywhere  he  won 
friends.  The  surveyor  naturally  was  respected  for  his  call- 
ing's sake,  but  the  new  deputy  surveyor  was  admired  for  his 
friendly  ways,  his  willingness  to  lend  a  hand  indoors  as  well 
as  out,  his  learning,  his  ambition,  his  independence. 
Throughout  the  county  he  began  to  be  regarded  as  a  "right 
smart  young  man."  Some  of  his  associates  appear  even  to 
have  comprehended  his  peculiarly  great  character  and  dimly 
to  have  foreseen  a  splendid  future.  "Often,"  says  Daniel 
Green  Burner,  at  one  time  clerk  in  Berry  and  Lincoln's  gro- 
cery, "I  have  heard  my  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Duncan,  say  he 
would  not  be  surprised  if  some  day  Abe  Lincoln  got  to  be 
governor  of  Illinois.  Lincoln,"  Mr.  Burner  adds,  "was 
thought  to  know  a  little  more  than  anybody  else  among  the 
young  people.  He  was  a  good  debater,  and  liked  it.  He  read 
much,  and  seemed  never  to  forget  anything." 

Lincoln  was  fully  conscious  of  his  popularity,  and  it 
seemed  to  him  in  1834  that  he  could  safely  venture  to  try 
again  for  the  legislature.  Accordingly  he  announced  himself 
as  a  candidate,  spending  much  of  the  summer  of  1834  in  elec- 
tioneering. It  was  a  repetition  of  what  he  had  done  in  1832, 
though  on  the  larger  scale  made  possible  by  wider  acquaint- 
ance. In  company  with  the  other  candidates  he  rode  up  and 

10? 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  109 

down  the  county,  making  speeches  in  the  public  squares,  in 
shady  groves,  now  and  then  in  a  log  school-house.  In  his 
speeches  he  soon  distinguished  himself  by  the  amazing  can- 
dor with  which  he  dealt  with  all  questions,  and  by  his  curious 
blending  of  audacity  and  humility.  Wherever  he  saw  a 
crowd  of  men  he  joined  them,  and  he  never  failed  to  adapt 
himself  to  their  point  of  view  in  asking  for  votes.  If  the  de- 
gree of  physical  strength  was  their  test  for  a  candidate,  he 
was  ready  to  lift  a  weight,  or  wrestle  with  the  countryside 
champion ;  if  the  amount  of  grain  a  man  could  cut  would  rec- 
ommend him,  he  seized  the  cradle  and  showed  the  swath  he 
could  cut.  The  campaign  was  well  conducted,  for  in  August 
he  was  elected  one  of  the  four  assemblymen  from  Sanga- 
mon. 

The  best  thing  which  Lincoln  did  in  the  canvass  of  1834 
was  not  winning  votes ;  it  was  coming  to  a  determination  to 
read  law,  not  for  pleasure,  but  as  a  business.  In  his  autobi- 
ographical notes  he  says :  "During  the  canvass,  in  a  private 
conversation,  Major  John  T.  Stuart  (one  of  his  fellow-candi- 
dates) encouraged  Abraham  to  study  law.  After  the  election 
he  borrowed  books  of  Stuart,  took  them  home  with  him  and 
went  at  it  in  good  earnest.  He  never  studied  with  anybody." 
He  seems  to  have  thrown  himself  into  the  work  with  almost 
impatient  ardor.  As  he  tramped  back  and  forth  from  Spring- 
field, twenty  miles  away,  to  get  his  law  books,  he  read  some- 
times forty  pages  or  more  on  the  way.  Often  he  was  seen 
wandering  at  random  across  the  fields,  repeating  aloud  the 
points  in  his  last  reading.  The  subject  seemed  never  to  be 
out  of  his  mind.  It  was  the  great  absorbing  interest  of  his 
life.  The  rule  he  gave  twenty  years  later  to  a  young  man  who 
wanted  to  know  how  to  become  a  lawyer,  was  the  one  he 
practiced : 

"Get  books  and  read  and  study  them  carefully.  Begin  with 
Blackstone's  *  Commentaries/  and  after  reading:  carefully 


110  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

through,  say  twice,  take  Chitty's  'Pleadings/  Greenleaf  s 
'Evidence,'  and  Story's  'Equity,'  in  succession.  Work,  work, 
work  is  the  main  thing." 

Having  secured  a  book  of  legal  forms,  he  was  soon  able  to 
write  deeds,  contracts,  and  all  sorts  of  legal  instruments ;  and 
he  was  frequently  called  upon  by  his  neighbors  to  perform 
services  of  this  kind.  "In  1834,"  says  Daniel  Green  Burner, 
"my  father,  Isaac  Burner,  sold  out  to  Henry  Onstott,  and  he 
wanted  a  deed  written.  I  knew  how  handy  Lincoln  was  that 
way  and  suggested  that  we  get  him.  We  found  him  sitting 
on  a  stump.  'All  right/  said  he,  when  informed  what  we 
wanted.  'If  you  will  bring  me  a  pen  and  ink  and  a  piece  of 
paper  I  will  write  it  here/  I  brought  him  these  articles,  and, 
picking  up  a  shingle  and  putting  it  on  his  knee  for  a  desk,  he 
wrote  out  the  deed." 

As  there  was  no  practising  lawyer  nearer  than  Springfield, 
Lincoln  was  often  employed  to  act  the  part  of  advocate  be- 
fore  the  village  squire,  at  that  time  Bowling  Green.  He  real- 
ized that  this  experience  was  valuable,  and  never,  so  far  as 
known,  demanded  or  accepted  a  fee  for  his  services  in  these 
petty  cases. 

Justice  was  sometimes  administered  in  a  summary  way  in 
Squire  Green's  court.  Precedents  and  the  venerable  rules  of 
law  had  little  weight.  The  "Squire"  took  judicial  notice  of  a 
great  many  facts,  often  going  so  far  as  to  fill,  simultane- 
ously, the  two  functions  of  witness  and  court.  But  his  deci- 
sions were  generally  just. 

James  McGrady  Rutledge  tells  a  story  in  which  several  of 
Lincoln's  old  friends  figure  and  which  illustrates  the  legal 
practices  of  New  Salem.  "Jack  Kelso,"  says  Mr.  Rutledge, 
"owned,  or  claimed  to  own,  a  white  hog.  It  was  also  claimed 
by  John  Ferguson.  The  hog  had  wandered  around  Bowling 
Green's  place,  until  he  felt  somewhat  acquainted  with  it. 
Ferguson  sued  Kelso,  and  the  case  was  tried  before  'Squire* 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  III 

Green.  The  plaintiff  produced  two  witnesses  who  testified 
positively  that  the  hog  belonged  to  him.  Kelso  had  nothing 
to  offer,  save  his  own  unsupported  claim. 

''  'Are  there  any  more  witnesses  ?'  inquired  the  court. 

"He  was  informed  that  there  were  no  more. 

"  'Well/  said  'Squire'  Green,  'the  two  witnesses  we  have 

heard  have  sworn  to  a lie.  I  know  this  shoat,  and  I 

know  it  belongs  to  Jack  Kelso.  I  therefore  decide  this  case 
in  his  favor/  ' 

An  extract  from  the  record  of  the  County  Commissioners' 
Court  illustrates  the  nature  of  the  cases  that  came  before  the 
justice  of  the  peace  in  Lincoln's  day.  It  also  shows  the  price 
put  upon  the  privilege  of  working  on  Sunday,  in  1832 : 

"JANUARY  29,  1832. — Alexander  Gibson  found  guilty  of 
Sabbath-breaking  and  fined  I2-J  cents.   Fine  paid  into  court. 
"(Signed)  EDWARD  ROBINSON,  J.  P." 

The  session  of  the  Ninth  Assembly  began  December  i, 
1834,  and  Lincoln  went  to  the  capital,  then  Vandalia,  sev- 
enty-five miles  southeast  of  New  Salem,  on  the  Kaskaskia 
river,  in  time  for  the  opening.  Vandalia  was  a  town  which 
had  been  called  into  existence  in  1820  especially  to  give  the 
State  government  an  abiding  place.  Its  very  name  had  been 
chosen,  it  is  said,  because  it  "sounded  well"  for  a  State  capi- 
tal. As  the  tradition  goes,  while  the  commissioners  were  de- 
bating what  they  should  call  the  town  they  were  making,  a 
wag  suggested  that  it  be  named  Vandalia,  in  honor  of  the 
Vandals,  a  tribe  of  Indians  which,  he  said,  had  once  lived  on 
the  borders  of  the  Kaskaskia;  this,  he  argued,  would  con- 
serve a  local  tradition  while  giving  a  euphonious  title.  The 
commissioners,  pleased  with  so  good  a  suggestion,  adopted 
the  name.  When  Lincoln  first  went  to  Vandalia  it  was  a 
town  of  about  eight  hundred  inhabitants;  its  noteworthy 


112  LIFE   OF   LINCOLN 

features,  according  to  Peck's  "Gazetteer"  of  Illinois  for 
1834,  being  a  brick  court-house,  a  two-story  brick  edifice 
"used  by  State  officers,"  "a  neat  framed  house  of  worship  for 
the  Presbyterian  Society,  with  a  cupola  and  bell,"  "a  framed 
meeting-house  for  the  Methodist  Society,"  three  taverns, 
several  stores,  five  lawyers,  four  physicians,  a  land  office,  and 
two  newspapers.  It  was  a  much  larger  town  than  Lincoln 
had  ever  lived  in  before,  though  he  was  familiar  with  Spring- 
field, then  twice  as  large  as  Vandalia,  and  he  had  seen  the 
cities  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  Assembly  which  he  entered  was  composed  of  eighty- 
one  members — twenty-six  senators  and  fifty-five  repre- 
sentatives. As  a  rule,  these  men  were  of  Kentucky,  Tennes- 
see, or  Virginia  origin,  with  here  and  there  a  Frenchman. 
There  were  but  few  eastern  men,  for  there  was  still  a  strong 
prejudice  in  the  State  against  Yankees.  The  close  bargains 
and  superior  airs  of  the  emigrants  from  New  England  con- 
trasted so  unpleasantly  with  the  open-handed  hospitality  and 
the  easy  ways  of  the  Southerners  and  French,  that  a  pio- 
neer's prospects  were  blasted  at  the  start  if  he  acted  like  a 
Yankee.  A  history  of  Illinois  in  1837,  published  evidently  to 
"boom"  the  State,  cautioned  the  emigrant  that  if  he  began 
his  life  in  Illinois  by  "affecting  superior  intelligence  and 
virtue,  and  catechizing  the  people  for  their  habits  of  plain- 
ness and  simplicity  and  their  apparent  want  of  those  things 
which  he  imagines  indispensable  to  comfort,"  he  must  expect 
to  be  forever  marked  as  "a  Yankee,"  and  to  have  his  pros- 
pects correspondingly  defeated.  A  "hard-shell"  Baptist 
preacher  of  about  this  date  showed  the  feeling  of  the  people 
when  he  said,  in  preaching  of  the  richness  of  the  grace  of  the 
Lord :  "It  tuks  in  the  isles  of  the  sea  and  the  uttermust  part 
of  the  yeth.  It  embraces  the  Esquimaux  and  the  Hottentots, 
and  some,  my  dear  brethering,  go  so  far  as  to  suppose  that,  it 
tuks  in  the  poor  benighted  Yankees,  but  I  don't  go  that  fur/9 


ELECTIONEERING   IN   ILLINOIS  113 

When  it  came  to  an  election  of  legislators,  many  of  the  peo- 
ple "didn't  go  that  fur"  either. 

There  was  a  preponderance  of  jean  suits  like  Lincoln's  in 
the  Assembly,  and  there  were  occasional  coonskin  caps  and 
buckskin  trousers.  Nevertheless,  more  than  one  member 
showed  a  studied  garb  and  a  courtly  manner.  Some  of  thr 
best  blood  of  the  South  went  into  the  making  of  Illinois,  and 
it  showed  itself  from  the  first  in  the  Assembly.  The  sur- 
roundings of  the  legislators  were  quite  as  simple  as  the  attire 
of  the  plainest  of  them.  The  court-house,  in  good  old 
Colonial  style,  with  square  pillars  and  belfry,  was  finished 
with  wooden  desks  and  benches.  The  State  furnished  her 
law-makers  few  perquisites  beyond  their  three  dollars  a  day. 
A  cork  inkstand,  a  certain  number  of  quills,  and  a  limited 
amount  of  stationery  were  all  the  extras  an  Illinois  legislator 
in  1834  got  from  his  position.  Scarcely  more  could  be  ex- 
pected from  a  State  whose  revenues  from  December  i,  1834, 
to  December  i,  1836,  were  only  about  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five thousand  dollars,  with  expenditures  during  the  same 
period  amounting  to  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  dollars. 

Lincoln  thought  little  of  these  things,  no  doubt.  To  him 
the  absorbing  interest  was  the  men  he  met.  To  get  ac- 
quainted with  them,  measure  them,  compare  himself  with 
them,  and  discover  wherein  they  were  his  superiors  and  what 
he  could  do  to  make  good  his  deficiency — this  was  his  chief 
occupation.  The  men  he  met  were  good  subjects  for  such 
study.  Among  them  were  William  L.  D.  Ewing,  Jesse  K. 
Dubois,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Theodore  Ford,  and  Governor 
Duncan — men  destined  to  play  large  parts  in  the  history  of 
the  State.  One  whom  he  met  that  winter  in  Vandalia  was 
destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  the  nation — the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  office  of  State  attorney  for  the 
first  judicial  district  of  Illinois;  a  man  four  years  younger 
(8) 


114  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

than  Lincoln — he  was  only  twenty-one  at  the  time;  a  new- 
comer, too,  in  the  State,  having  arrived  about  a  year  before, 
under  no  very  promising  auspices  either,  for  he  had  only 
thirty-seven  cents  in  his  pockets,  and  no  position  in  view ;  but 
a  man  of  mettle,  it  was  easy  to  see,  for  already  he  had  risen  so 
high  in  the  district  where  he  had  settled,  that  he  dared  con- 
test the  office  of  State  attorney  with  John  J.  Hardin,  one  of 
the  most  successful  lawyers  of  the  State.  This  young  man 
was  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  He  had  come  to  Vandalia  from 
Morgan  county  to  conduct  his  campaign,  and  Lincoln  met 
him  first  in  the  halls  of  the  old  court-house,  where  he  and 
his  friends  carried  on  with  success  their  contest  against 
Hardin. 

The  ninth  Assembly  gathered  in  a  more  hopeful  and  am- 
bitious mood  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  Illinois  was  feel- 
ing well.  The  State  was  free  from  debt.  The  Black  Hawk 
war  had  stimulated  the  people  greatly,  for  it  had  brought  a 
large  amount  of  money  into  circulation.  In  fact,  the  greater 
portion  of  the  eight  to  ten  million  dollars  the  war  had  cost, 
had  been  circulated  among  the  Illinois  volunteers.  Immigra- 
tion, too,  was  increasing  at  a  bewildering  rate.  In  1835  the 
census  showed  a  population  of  269,974.  Between  1830  and 
1835  two-fifths  of  this  number  had  come  in.  In  the  northeast 
Chicago  had  begun  to  rise.  "Even  for  a  western  town,"  its 
growth  had  been  unusually  rapid,  declared  Peck's  "Gazet- 
teer," of  1834;  the  harbor  building  there,  the  proposed  Michi- 
gan and  Illinois  canal,  the  rise  in  town  lots — all  promised  to 
the  State  a  great  metropolis.  To  meet  the  rising  tide  of 
prosperity,  the  legislators  of  1834  felt  that  they  must  devise 
some  worthy  scheme,  so  they  chartered  a  new  State  bank, 
with  a  capital  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  revived  a  bank  which  had  broken  twelve  years  before, 
granting  it  a  charter  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
There  was  no  surplus  money  in  the  State  to  supply  the  capi- 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  1 15 

tal;  there  were  no  trained  bankers  to  guide  the  concern; 
there  was  no  clear  notion  of  how  it  was  all  to  be  done ;  but  a 
banking  capital  of  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars would  be  a  good  thing  in  the  State,  they  were  sure ;  and 
if  the  East  could  be  made  to  believe  in  Illinois  as  much  as  her 
legislators  believed  in  her,  the  stocks  would  go;  and  so  the 
banks  were  chartered. 

But  even  more  important  to  the  State  than  banks  was  a 
highway.  For  thirteen  years  plans  for  the  Illinois  and  Michi- 
gan canal  had  been  constantly  before  the  Assembly.  Sur- 
veys had  been  ordered,  estimates  reported,  the  advantages 
extolled,  but  nothing  had  been  done.  Now,  however,  the 
Assembly,  flushed  by  the  first  thrill  of  the  coming  boom, 
decided  to  authorize  a  loan  of  a  half-million  on  the  credit  of 
the  State.  Lincoln  favored  both  these  measures.  He  did 
not,  however,  do  anything  especially  noteworthy  for  either 
of  the  bills,  nor  was  the  record  he  made  in  other  directions 
at  all  remarkable.  He  was  placed  on  the  committee  of  pub- 
lic accounts  and  expenditures,  and  attended  meetings  with 
fidelity.  His  first  act  as  a  member  was  to  give  notice  that  he 
would  ask  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  limiting  the  jurisdiction 
of  justices  of  the  peace — a  measure  which  he  succeeded  in 
carrying  through.  He  followed  this  by  a  motion  to  change 
the  rules,  so  that  it  should  not  be  in  order  to  offer  amend- 
ments to  any  bill  after  the  third  reading,  which  was  not 
agreed  to;  though  the  same  rule,  in  effect,  was  adopted  some 
years  later,  and  is  to  this  day  in  force  in  both  branches  of  the 
Illinois  Assembly.  He  next  made  a  motion  to  take  from  the 
table  a  report  which  had  been  submitted  by  his  committee, 
which  met  a  like  fate.  His  first  resolution,  relating  to  a 
State  revenue  to  be  derived  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands, 
was  denied  a  reference,  and  laid  upon  the  table.  Neither 
as  a  speaker  nor  an  organizer  did  he  make  any  especial  im- 
pression on  the  body. 


lib  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

In  the  spring  of  1835  the  young  representative  from  San- 
gamon  returned  to  New  Salem  to  take  up  his  duties  as  post- 
master and  deputy  surveyor,  and  to  resume  his  law  studies. 
He  exchanged  his  rather  exalted  position  for  the  humbler 
one  with  a  light  heart.  New  Salem  held  all  that  was  dear- 
est in  the  world  to  him  at  that  moment,  and  he  went  back 
to  the  poor  little  town  with  a  hope,  which  he  had  once  sup- 
posed honor  forbade  his  acknowledging  even  to  himself, 
glowing  warmly  in  his  heart.  He  loved  a  young  girl  of  that 
town,  and  now  for  the  first  time,  though  he  had  known  her 
since  he  first  came  to  New  Salem,  was  he  free  to  tell  his  love. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  families  of  the  settlement  in 
1831,  when  Lincoln  first  appeared  there,  was  that  of  James 
Rutledge.  The  head  of  the  house  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  New  Salem,  and  at  that  time  the  keeper  of  the  village 
tavern.  He  was  a  high-minded  man,  of  a  warm  and  gener- 
ous nature,  and  had  the  universal  respect  of  the  community. 
He  was  a  South  Carolinian  by  birth,  but  had  lived  many 
years  in  Kentucky  before  coming  to  Illinois.  Rutledge  came 
of  a  distinguished  family :  one  of  his  ancestors  signed  the 
Declaration  of  Independence;  another  was  chief  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  by  appointment  of 
Washington,  and  another  was  a  conspicuous  leader  in  the 
American  Congress. 

The  third  of  the  nine  children  in  the  Rutledge  household 
was  a  daughter,  Ann  Mayes,  born  in  Kentucky,  January  7, 
1813.  When  Lincoln  first  met  her  she  was  nineteen  years 
old,  and  as  fresh  as  a  flower.  Many  of  those  who  knew  her 
at  that  time  have  left  tributes  to  her  beauty  and  gentleness, 
and  even  to-day  there  are  those  living  who  talk  of  her  with 
moistened  eyes  and  softened  tones.  "She  was  a  beautiful 
girl,"  says  her  cousin,  James  McGrady  Rutledge,  "and  as 
bright  as  she  was  beautiful.  She  was  well  educated  for  that 
early  day,  a  good  conversationalist,  and  always  gentle  and 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  II? 

cheerful.  A  girl  whose  company  people  liked."  So  fair  a 
maid  was  not,  of  course,  without  suitors.  The  most  deter- 
mined of  those  who  sought  her  hand  was  one  John  McNeill, 
a  young  man  who  had  arrived  in  New  Salem  from  New 
York  soon  after  the  founding  of  the  town.  Nothing  was 
known  of  his  antecedents,  and  no  questions  were  asked.  He 
was  understood  to  be  merely  one  of  the  thousands  who  had 
come  west  in  search  of  fortune.  That  he  was  intelligent, 
industrious,  and  frugal,  with  a  good  head  for  business,  was 
at  once  apparent ;  for  in  four  years  from  his  first  appearance 
in  the  settlement,  besides  earning  a  half-interest  in  a  general 
store,  McNeill  had  acquired  a  large  farm  a  few  miles  north 
of  New  Salem.  His  neighbors  believed  him  to  be  worth 
about  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

John  McNeill  was  an  unmarried  man — at  least  so  he  repre- 
sented himself  to  be — and  very  soon  after  becoming  a  resi- 
dent of  New  Salem  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Ann  Rut- 
ledge,  then  a  girl  of  seventeen.  It  was  a  case  of  love  at  first 
sight,  and  the  two  soon  became  engaged,  in  spite  of  the  riv- 
alry of  Samuel  Hill,  McNeill's  partner.  But  Ann  was  as 
yet  only  a  young  girl;  and  it  was  thought  very  sensible  in 
her  and  considerate  in  her  lover  that  both  acquiesced  in  the 
wishes  of  Ann's  parents  that,  for  some  time  at  least,  the 
marriage  be  postponed. 

Such  was  the  situation  when  Lincoln  appeared  in  New 
Salem.  He  naturally  soon  became  acquainted  with  the  girl. 
She  was  a  pupil  in  Mentor  Graham's  school,  where  he  fre- 
quently visited,  and  rumor  says  that  he  first  met  her  there. 
However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  in  the  latter  part  of 
1832  he  went  to  board  at  the  Rutledge  tavern  and  there  was 
thrown  daily  into  her  company. 

During  the  next  year,  1833,  John  McNeill,  in  spite  of  his 
fair  prospects,  became  restless  and  discontented.  He  wanted 
to  see  his  people*  he  said,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  he 


Il8  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

decided  to  go  East  for  a  visit.  To  secure  perfect  free- 
dom from  his  business  while  gone,  he  sold  out  his  interest 
in  his  store.  To  Ann  he  said  that  he  hoped  to  bring  back  his 
father  and  mother,  and  to  place  them  on  his  farm.  'This 
duty  done,"  was  his  farewell  word,  "you  and  I  will  be  mar- 
ried." In  the  spring  of  1834  McNeill  started  East.  The 
journey  overland  by  foot  and  horse  was  in  those  days  a  try- 
ing one,  and  on  the  way  McNeill  fell  ill  with  chills  and  fever. 
It  was  late  in  the  summer  before  he  reached  his  home,  and 
wrote  back  to  Ann,  explaining  his  silence.  The  long  wait 
had  been  a  severe  strain  on  the  girl,  and  Lincoln  had  watched 
her  anxiety  with  softened  heart.  It  was  to  him,  the  New 
Salem  postmaster,  that  she  came  to  inquire  for  letters.  It 
was  to  him  she  entrusted  those  she  sent.  In  a  way  the  post- 
master must  have  become  the  girl's  confidant ;  and  his  tender 
heart  must  have  been  deeply  touched.  After  the  long  silence 
was  broken,  and  McNeill' s  first  letter  of  explanation  came, 
the  cause  of  anxiety  seemed  removed ;  but,  strangely  enough, 
other  letters  followed  only  at  long  intervals,  and  finally  they 
ceased  altogether.  Then  it  was  that  the  young  girl  told  her 
friends  a  secret  which  McNeill  had  confided  to  her  before 
leaving  New  Salem. 

He  had  told  her  what  she  had  never  even  suspected  before, 
that  John  McNeill  was  not  his  real  name,  but  that  it  was 
John  McNamar.  Shortly  before  he  came  to  New  Salem, 
he  explained,  his  father  had  suffered  a  disastrous  failure  in 
business.  He  was  the  oldest  son;  and  in  the  hope  of  re- 
trieving the  lost  fortune,  he  resolved  to  go  West,  expecting 
to  return  in  a  few  years  and  share  his  riches  with  the  rest  of 
the  family.  Anticipating  parental  opposition,  he  ran  away 
from  home ;  and,  being  sure  that  he  could  never  accumulate 
anything  with  so  numerous  a  family  to  support,  he  endeav- 
ored to  lose  himself  by  a  change  of  name.  All  this  Ann  had 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  119 

believed  and  not  repeated ;  but  now,  worn  out  by  waiting,  she 
took  the  story  to  her  friends. 

With  few  exceptions  they  pronounced  the  story  a  fabrica- 
tion and  McNamar  an  impostor.  His  excuse  seemed  flimsy. 
Why  had  he  worn  this  mask  ?  At  best,  they  declared,  he  was 
a  mere  adventurer;  and  was  it  not  more  probable  that  he 
was  a  fugitive  from  justice — a  thief,  a  swindler,  or  a  mur- 
derer? And  who  knew  how  many  wives  he  might  have? 
With  all  New  Salem  declaring  John  McNamar  false,  Ann 
Rutledge  could  hardly  be  blamed  for  imagining  that  he  was 
dead  or  had  forgotten  her. 

It  was  not  until  McNeill,  or  McNamar,  had  been  gone 
many  months,  and  gossip  had  become  offensive,  that  Lincoln 
ventured  to  show  his  love  for  Ann,  and  then  it  was  a  long 
time  before  the  girl  would  listen  to  his  suit.  Convinced  at 
last,  however,  that  her  former  lover  had  deserted  her,  she 
yielded  to  Lincoln's  wishes  and  promised,  in  the  spring  of 
1835,  soon  after  Lincoln's  return  from  Vandalia,  to  become 
his  wife.  But  Lincoln  had  nothing  on  which  to  support  a 
family — indeed,  he  found  it  no  trifling  task  to  support  him- 
self. As  for  Ann,  she  was  anxious  to  go  to  school  another 
year.  It  was  decided  that  in  the  autumn  she  should  go  with 
her  brother  to  Jacksonville  and  spend  the  winter  there  in  an 
academy.  Lincoln  was  to  devote  himself  to  his  law  studies; 
and  the  next  spring,  when  she  returned  from  school  and  he 
had  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  they  were  to  be  married. 

A  happy  spring  and  summer  followed.  New  Salem  took 
a  cordial  interest  in  the  two  lovers  and  presaged  a  happy 
life  for  them,  and  all  would  undoubtedly  have  gone  well  if 
the  young  girl  could  have  dismissed  the  haunting  memory 
of  her  old  lover.  The  possibility  that  she  had  wronged  him, 
that  he  might  reappear,  that  he  loved  her  still, though  she  now 
loved  another,  that  perhaps  she  had  done  wrong — a  tortur- 
ing conflict  of  memory,  love,  conscience,  doubt,  and  mor- 


120  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

bidness  lay  like  a  shadow  across  her  happiness,  and  wore 
upon  her  until  she  fell  ill.  Gradually  her  condition  became 
hopeless ;  and  Lincoln,  who  had  been  shut  from  her,  was  sent 
for.  The  lovers  passed  an  hour  alone  in  an  anguished  part- 
ing, and  soon  after,  on  August  25,  1835,  Ann  died. 

The  death  of  Ann  Rutledge  plunged  Lincoln  into  the  deep- 
est gloom.  That  abiding  melancholy,  that  painful  sense  of 
the  incompleteness  of  life  which  had  been  his  mother's  dowry 
asserted  itself.  It  filled  and  darkened  his  mind  and  his 
imagination  tortured  him  with  its  black  pictures.  One 
stormy  night  Lincoln  was  sitting  beside  William  Greene,  his 
head  bowed  on  his  hand,  while  tears  trickled  through  his 
fingers ;  his  friend  begged  him  to  control  his  sorrow,  to  try 
to  forget.  "I  cannot,"  moaned  Lincoln;  "the  thought  of 
the  snow  and  rain  on  her  grave  fills  me  with  indescribable 
grief." 

He  was  seen  walking  alone  by  the  river  and  through  the 
woods,  muttering  strange  things  to  himself.  He  seemed 
to  his  friends  to  be  in  the  shadow  of  madness.  They  kept 
a  close  watch  over  him ;  and  at  last  Bowling  Green,  one  of 
the  most  devoted  friends  Lincoln  then  had,  took  him  home 
to  his  little  log  cabin,  half  a  mile  north  of  New  Salem,  under 
the  brow  of  a  big  bluff.  Here,  under  the  loving  care  of 
Green,  and  his  good  wife  Nancy,  Lincoln  remained  until  he 
was  once  more  master  of  himself. 

But  though  he  had  regained  self-control,  his  grief  was 
deep  and  bitter.  Ann  Rutledge  was  buried  in  Concord  cem- 
etery, a  country  burying-ground  seven  miles  northwest  of 
New  Salem.  To  this  lonely  spot  Lincoln  frequently  jour- 
neyed to  weep  over  her  grave.  "My  heart  is  buried  there," 
he  said  to  one  of  his  friends. 

When  McNamar  returned  (for  McNamar's  story  was 
true,  and  two  months  after  Ann  Rutledge  died  he  drove  into 
New  Salem  with  his  widowed  mother  and  his  brothers  and 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  121 

sisters  in  the  "prairie  schooner"  beside  him)  and  learned  of 
Ann's  death,  he  "saw  Lincoln  at  the  post-office,"  as  he  after- 
ward said,  and  "he  seemed  desolate  and  sorely  distressed." 
On  himself  apparently,  her  death  produced  no  deep  impres- 
sion. Within  a  year  he  married  another  woman;  and  his 
conduct  toward  Ann  Rutledge  is  to  this  day  a  mystery. 

In  later  life,  when  Lincoln's  sorrow  had  become  a 
memory,  he  told  a  friend  who  questioned  him :  "I  really  and 
truly  loved  the  girl  and  think  often  of  her  now."  There  was 
a  pause,  and  then  the  President  added : 

"And  I  have  loved  the  name  of  Rutledge  to  this  day." 

When  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge  came  upon  Lincoln,  for 
a  time  threatening  to  destroy  his  ambition  and  blast  his  life, 
he  was  in  a  most  encouraging  position.  Master  of  a  profes- 
sion in  which  he  had  an  abundance  of  work  and  earned  fair 
fees,  hopeful  of  being  admitted  in  a  few  months  to  the  bar, 
a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  with  every  reason  to  believe 
that,  if  he  desired  it,  his  constituency  would  return  him — few 
men  are  as  far  advanced  at  twenty-six  as  was  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. 

Intellectually  he  was  far  better  equipped  than  he  believed 
himself  to  be,  better  than  he  has  ordinarily  been  credited  with 
being.  True,  he  had  had  no  conventional  college  training, 
but  he  had  by  his  own  efforts  attained  the  chief  result  of  all 
preparatory* study,  the  ability  to  take  hold  of  a  subject  and 
assimilate  it.  The  fact  that  in  six  weeks  he  had  acquired 
enough  of  the  science  of  surveying  to  enable  him  to  serve  as 
deputy  surveyor  shows  how  well-trained  his  mind  was.  The 
power  to  grasp  a  large  subject  quickly  and  fully  is  never  an 
accident.  The  nights  Lincoln  spent  in  Gentryville  lying  on 
the  floor  in  front  of  the  fire  figuring  on  the  fire-shovel,  the 
hours  he  passed  in  poring  over  the  Statutes  of  Indiana,  the 
days  he  wrestled  with  Kirkham's  Grammar,  alone  made  the 
mastery  of  Flint  and  Gibson  possible.  His  struggle  with 


122  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

Flint  and  Gibson  made  easier  the  volumes  he  borrowed  from 
Major  Stuart's  law  library. 

Lincoln  had  a  mental  trait  which  explains  his  rapid 
growth  in  mastering  subjects — seeing  clearly  was  essential 
to  him.  He  was  unable  to  put  a  question  aside  until  he  un- 
derstood it.  It  pursued  him,  irritated  him  until  solved. 
Even  in  his  Gentryville  days  his  comrades  noted  that  he  was 
constantly  searching  for  reasons  and  that  he  "explained  so 
clearly."  This  characteristic  became  stronger  with  years. 
He  was  unwilling  to  pronounce  himself  on  any  subject  until 
he  understood  it,  and  he  could  not  let  it  alone  until  he  had 
reached  a  conclusion  which  satisfied  him. 

This  seeing  clearly  became  a  splendid  force  in  Lincoln; 
for  when  he  once  had  reached  a  conclusion  he  had  the  hon- 
esty of  soul  to  suit  his  actions  to  it.  No  consideration  could 
induce  him  to  abandon  the  line  of  conduct  which  his  reason 
told  him  was  logical.  Joined  to  these  strong  mental  and 
moral  qualities  was  that  power  of  immediate  action  which  so 
often  explains  why  one  man  succeeds  in  life  while  another 
of  equal  intelligence  and  uprightness  fails.  As  soon  as  Lin- 
coln saw  a  thing  to  do  he  did  it.  He  wants  to  know ;  here  is 
a  book — it  may  be  a  biography,  a  volume  of  dry  statutes,  a 
collection  of  verse;  no  matter,  he  reads  and  ponders  it  until 
he  has  absorbed  all  it  has  for  him.  He  is  eager  to  see  the 
world ;  a  man  offers  him  a  position  as  a  "  hand  "  on  a  Mis- 
sissippi flatboat;  he  takes  it  without  a  moment's  hesitation 
over  the  toil  and  exposure  it  demands.  John  Calhoun  is  will- 
ing to  make  him  a  deputy  surveyor;  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
science ;  in  six  weeks  he  has  learned  enough  to  begin  his  la- 
bors. Sangamon  county  must  have  representatives,  why  not 
he?  and  his  circular  goes  out.  Ambition  alone  will  not  ex- 
plain this  power  of  instantaneous  action.  It  comes  largely 
from  that  active  imagination  which,  when  a  new  relation  01 
position  opens,  seizes  on  all  its  possibilities  and  from  them 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  ILLINOIS  123 

creates  a  situation  so  real  that  one  enters  with  confidence 
upon  what  seems  to  the  unimaginative  the  rashest  undertak- 
ing. Lincoln  saw  the  possibilities  in  things  and  immediately 
appreciated  them. 

But  the  position  he  rilled  in  Sangamon  county  in  1835  was 
not  all  due  to  these  qualities ;  much  was  due  to  his  personal 
charm.  By  all  accounts  he  was  big,  awkward,  ill-clad,  shy — 
yet  his  sterling  honor,  his  unselfish  nature,  his  heart  of  the 
true  gentleman,  inspired  respect  and  confidence.  Men  might 
laugh  at  his  first  appearance,  but  they  were  not  long  in  recog- 
nizing the  real  superiority  of  his  nature. 

Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln  at  twenty-six,  when  the  tragic 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge  made  all  that  he  had  attained,  all  that 
he  had  planned,  seem  fruitless  and  empty.  He  was  too  sin- 
cere and  just,  too  brave  a  man,  to  allow  a  great  sorrow  per- 
manently to  interfere  with  his  activities.  He  rallied  his 
forces,  and  returned  to  his  law,  his  surveying,  his  politics. 
He  brought  to  his  work  a  new  power,  that  insight  and 
patience  which  only  a  great  sorrow  can  give. 


CHAPTER  IX 

LINCOLN   IS   RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    ILLINOIS    ASSEMBLY HIS 

FIRST      PUBLISHED      ADDRESS PROTESTS      AGAINST      PRO- 
SLAVERY   RESOLUTIONS   OF   THE   ASSEMBLY 

THE  Ninth  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  held  its  opening 
session  in  the  winter  of  1834-35.  It  was  Lincoln's  first  ex- 
perience as  a  legislator  and  it  was  rather  a  tame  one,  but  in 
December,  1835,  the  members  were  called  to  an  extra  ses- 
sion which  proved  to  be  in  every  way  more  exciting  and  more 
eventful  than  its  predecesso/s.  The  chief  reason  for  its  be- 
ing called  was  in  itself  calculated  to  exhilarate  the  hopeful 
young  law-givers.  A  census  had  been  taken  since  their  last 
session  and  so  large  an  increase  in  population  had  been  re- 
ported that  it  was  considered  necessary  to  summon  the  as- 
sembly to  re-apportion  the  legislative  districts.  When  the  re- 
apportionment  was  made  it  was  found  that  the  General  As- 
sembly was  increased  by  fifty  members,  the  number  of  sen- 
ators being  raised  from  twenty-six  to  forty,  of  representa- 
tives from  fifty-five  to  ninety-one.  A  growth  of  fifty  mem- 
bers in  four  years  excited  the  imagination  of  the  State.  The 
dignity  and  importance  of  Illinois  suddenly  assumed  new  im- 
portance. It  was  imagined  that  the  story  of  New  York's 
growth  in  wealth  and  influence  was  to  be  repeated  in  this 
new  country  and  every  ambitious  man  in  the  assembly  de- 
termined to  lead  in  the  rise  of  the  State. 

The  work  on  internal  improvements  begun  in  the 
previous  session  took  a  new  form.  The  governor,  in  calling 
the  members  together,  had  said :  "While  I  would  urge  the 
most  liberal  support  of  all  such  measures  as  tending  with  per- 
fect certainty  to  increase  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the 

124 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  125 

State,  I  would  at  the  same  time  most  respectfully  suggest  the 
propriety  of  intrusting  the  construction  of  all  such  works 
where  it  can  be  done  consistently  with  the  general  interest,  to 
individual  enterprise."  The  legislators  acquiesced  and  in  this 
session  began  to  grant  a  series  of  private  charters  for  inter- 
nal improvements  which  had  they  been  carried  out,  would 
have  given  the  State  means  of  communication  in  1840  al- 
most if  not  quite  equal  to  those  of  to-day.  The  map  on  page 
135  shows  the  incorporations  of  railroad  and  canal  com- 
panies made  in  the  extra  session  of  the  Ninth  Assembly, 
1835-36,  and  in  the  regular  session  of  the  Tenth,  1836-37; 
sixteen  of  the  railroads  were  chartered  in  the  former  session. 

Lincoln  and  his  colleagues  did  not  devote  their  attention 
entirely  to  chartering  railroads.  Ten  schools  were  chartered 
in  this  same  session,  some  of  which  exist  to-day.  In  the  next 
session  twelve  academies  and  eighteen  colleges  received  char- 
ters. 

The  absorbing  topic  of  the  winter,  however,  and  the  one 
in  which  Lincoln  was  chiefly  concerned  was  the  threatened 
naturalization  of  the  convention  system  in  Illinois.  Up  to 
this  time  candidates  for  office  in  the  United  States  had  gen- 
erally nominated  themselves  as  we  have  seen  Lincoln  doing. 
The  only  formality  they  imposed  upon  themselves  was  to 
consult  a  little  unauthorized  caucus  of  personal  friends.  Un- 
less they  were  exceptionally  cautious  persons  the  disapproval 
of  this  caucus  did  not  stand  in  their  way  at  all.  So  long  as 
party  lines  were  indistinct  and  the  personal  qualities  of  a 
candidate  were  considered  rather  than  his  platform  this 
method  of  nomination  was  possible,  but  with  party  organiza- 
tion it  began  to  change.  In  the  case  of  presidential  can- 
didates the  convention  with  its  delegates  and  platform  had 
just  appeared,  the  first  full-fledged  one  being  held  but  three 
years  before,  in  1832.  Along  with  the  presidential  conven- 
tion came  the  "machine,"  an  organization  of  all  those  wHo 


J26  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

belonged  to  a  party,  intended  to  secure  unity  of  effort. 
By  means  of  primaries  and  conventions  one  candidate  was 
put  forward  by  a  party  instead  of  a  dozen  being  allowed  to 
offer  themselves.  The  strength  which  the  convention  gave 
the  Democratic  party,  which  first  adopted  and  developed  it, 
was  enormous.  The  Whigs  opposed  the  new  institution ;  they 
declared  it  "was  intended  to  abridge  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple by  depriving  individuals,  on  their  own  mere  motion,  of 
the  privilege  of  becoming  candidates  and  depriving  each  man 
of  the  right  to  vote  for  a  candidate  of  his  own  selection  and 
choice." 

The  efficacy  of  the  new  method  was  so  apparent,  however, 
that,  let  the  Whigs  preach  as  they  would,  it  was  rapidly 
adopted.  In  1835  the  whole  machinery  was  well  developed 
in  New  England  and  New  York  and  had  appeared  in  the 
West.  In  the  north  of  Illinois  the  Democrats  had  begun  to 
organize  under  the  leadership  of  two  men  of  eastern  origin 
and  training,  Ebenezer  Peck  of  Chicago,  and  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  of  Jacksonville,  and  this  session  of  the  Illinois  legis- 
lature the  convention  system  became  a  subject  of  discussion. 

The  Whigs,  Lincoln  among  them,  violently  opposed  the 
new  scheme.  It  was  a  Yankee  contrivance  they  said,  favored 
only  by  New  Englanders  like  Douglas,  or  worse  still  by 
monarchists  like  Peck.  They  recalled  with  pious  indigna- 
tion that  Peck  was  a  Canadian,  brought  up  under  an  aristo- 
cratic form  of  government,  that  he  had  even  deserted  the 
liberal  party  of  this  government  to  go  over  to  the  ultra- 
monarchists.  They  declared  it  a  remarkable  fact  that  no  man 
born  and  raised  west  of  the  mountains  or  south  of  the  Po- 
tomac had  yet  returned  to  vindicate  "the  wholesale  system  of 
convention."  In  spite  of  Whig  warnings,  however,  the  con- 
vention system  was  approved  by  a  vote  of  twenty-six  to 
twenty-five. 

The  Ninth  Assembly  expired  at  the  close  of  this  extra  ses- 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  127 

sion  and  in  June  Lincoln  announced  himself  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Tenth  Assembly.  A  few  days  later  the  "Sangamon 
Journal"  published  his  simple  platform: 

"New  Salem,  June  13,  1836. 

"To  the  Editor  of  the  'Journal' : 

"  In  your  paper  of  last  Saturday  I  see  a  communication, 
over  the  signature  of  'Many  Voters,'  in  which  the  candidates 
who  are  announced  in  the  'Journal'  are  called  upon  to  'show 
their  hands.'  Agreed.  Here's  mine. 

"I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  government  who 
assist  in  bearing  its  burdens.  Consequently,  I  go  for  ad- 
mitting all  whites  to  the  right  of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or 
bear  arms  (by  no  means  excluding  females). 

"If  elected,  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of  Sangamon 
my  constituents,  as  well  those  that  oppose  as  those  that  sup- 
port me. 

"While  acting  as  their  representative,  I  shall  be  governed 
by  their  will  on  all  subjects  upon  which  I  have  the  means  of 
knowing  what  their  will  is;  and  upon  all  others  I  shall  do 
what  my  own  judgment  teaches  me  will  best  advance  their 
interests.  Whether  elected  or  not,  I  go  for  distributing  the 
proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  to  the  several  States, 
to  enable  our  State,  in  common  with  others,  to  dig  canals  and 
construct  railroads  without  borrowing  money  and  paying 
the  interest  on  it. 

"If  alive  on  the  first  Monday  in  November,  I  shall  vote 
for  Hugh  L.  White  for  President. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

The  campaign  which  Lincoln  began  with  this  letter  was  in 
every  way  more  exciting  for  him  than  those  of  1832  and 
1834.  In  the  reapportionment  of  the  legislative  districts 
which  had  taken  place  the  winter  before  Sangamon  County's 
delegation  had  been  enlarged  to  seven  representatives  and 
two  senators.  This  gave  large  new  opportunities  to  political 
ambition,  and  doubled  the  enthusiasm  of  political  meetings. 


128  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

But  the  increase  of  the  representation  was  not  all  that 
made  the  campaign  exciting.  Party  lines  had  never  before 
been  so  clearly  drawn  in  Sangamon  county,  nor  personal 
abuse  quite  so  frank.  One  of  Lincoln's  first  acts  was  to  an- 
swer a  personal  attack.  During  his  absence  from  New  Salem 
a  rival  candidate  passed  through  the  place  and  stated  pub- 
licly that  he  was  in  possession  of  facts  which,  if  known  to 
the  public,  would  entirely  destroy  Lincoln's  prospects  at  the 
coming  election ;  but  he  declared  that  he  thought  so  much  of 
Lincoln  that  he  would  not  tell  what  he  knew.  Lincoln  met 
this  mysterious  insinuation  with  shrewd  candor.  "No  one 
has  needed  favors  more  than  I,"  he  wrote  his  rival,  "and  gen- 
erally few  have  been  less  unwilling  to  accept  them;  but  in 
this  case  favor  to  me  would  be  injustice  to  the  public,  and 
therefore  I  must  beg  your  pardon  for  declining  it.  That  I 
once  had  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Sangamon  County 
is  sufficiently  evident;  and  if  I  have  done  anything,  either  by 
design  or  misadventure,  which  if  known  would  subject  me 
to  a  forfeiture  of  that  confidence,  he  that  knows  of  that  thing 
and  conceals  it  is  a  traitor  to  his  country's  interest. 

"I  find  myself  wholly  unable  to  form  any  conjecture  of 
what  fact  or  facts,  real  or  supposed,  you  spoke ;  but  my  opin- 
ion of  your  veracity  will  not  permit  me  for  a  moment  to 
doubt  that  you  at  least  believed  what  you  said.  I  am  flat- 
tered with  the  personal  regard  you  manifested  for  me ;  but  I 
do  hope  that  on  mature  reflection  you  will  view  the  public 
interest  as  a  paramount  consideration  and  therefore  let  the 
worst  come." 

Usually  during  the  campaign  Lincoln  was  obliged  to  meet 
personal  attacks,  not  by  letter,  but  on  the  platform.  Joshua 
Speed,  who  later  became  the  most  intimate  friend  that  Lin- 
coln probably  ever  had,  tells  of  one  occasion  when  he  was 
obliged  to  meet  such  an  attack  on  the  very  spur  of  the  mo- 
ment. A  great  mass-meeting  was  in  progress  at  Spring- 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  129 

field,  and  Lincoln  had  made  a  speech  which  had  produced  a 
deep  impression. 

"  I  was  then  fresh  from  Kentucky,"  says  Mr.  Speed,  "  and 
had  heard  many  of  her  great  orators.  It  seemed  to  me  then, 
as  it  seems  to  me  now,  that  I  never  heard  a  more  effective 
speaker.  He  carried  the  crowd  with  him,  and  swayed  them 
as  he  pleased.  So  deep  an  impression  did  he  make  that 
George  Forquer,  a  man  of  much  celebrity  as  a  sarcastic 
speaker  and  with  a  great  reputation  throughout  the  State  as 
an  orator,  rose  and  asked  the  people  to  hear  him.  He  began 
his  speech  by  saying  that  this  young  man  would  have  to  be 
taken  down,  and  he  was  sorry  that  the  task  devolved 
upon  him.  He  made  what  was  called  one  of  his  'slasher-gaff' 
speeches,  dealing  much  in  ridicule  and  sarcasm.  Lincoln 
stood  near  him,  with  his  arms  folded,  never  interrupting  him. 
When  Forquer  was  done,  Lincoln  walked  to  the  stand,  and 
replied  so  fully  and  completely  that  his  friends  bore  him  from 
the  court-house  on  their  shoulders. 

"So  deep  an  impression  did  this  first  speech  make  upon  me 
that  I  remember  its  conclusion  now,  after  a  lapse  of  thirty- 
eight  years. 

"  The  gentleman  commenced  his  speech/  he  said,  'by  say- 
ing that  this  young  man  would  have  to  be  taken  down,  and 
he  was  sorry  the  task  devolved  upon  him.  I  am  not  so  young 
in  years  as  I  am  in  the  tricks  and  trade  of  a  politician ;  but 
live  long  or  die  young,  I  would  rather  die  now  than,  like  the 
gentleman,  change  my  politics  and  simultaneous  with  the 
change  receive  an  office  worth  three  thousand  dollars  a  year, 
and  then  have  to  erect  a  lightning-rod  over  my  house  to  pro- 
tect a  guilty  conscience  from  an  offended  God/ 

"To  understand  the  point  of  this  it  must  be  explained  that 
Forquer  had  been  a  Whig,  but  had  changed  his  politics,  and 
had  been  appointed  Register  of  the  Land  Office ;  and  over 
his  house  was  the  only  lightning-rod  in  the  town  or  county. 
Lincoln  had  seen  the  lightning-rod  for  the  first  time  on  the 
day  before." 

This  speech  has  never  been  forgotten  in  Springfield,  and 
on  my  visits  there  I  have  repeatedly  had  the  site  of  the  house 
(P) 


130  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

on  which  this  particular  lightning-rod  was  placed  pointed 
out,  and  one  or  another  of  the  many  versions  which  the  story 
has  taken,  related  to  me. 

It  was  the  practice  at  that  date  in  Illinois  for  two  rival  can- 
didates to  travel  over  the  district  together.  The  custom  led 
to  much  good-natured  raillery  between  them;  and  in  such 
contests  Lincoln  was  rarely,  if  ever,  worsted.  He  could  even 
turn  the  generosity  of  a  rival  to  account  by  his  whimsical 
treatment.  On  one  occasion,  says  Mr.  Weir,  a  former  resi- 
dent of  Sangamon  county,  he  had  driven  out  from  Spring- 
field in  company  with  a  political  opponent  to  engage  in  joint 
debate.  The  carriage,  it  seems,  belonged  to  his  opponent.  In 
addressing  the  gathering  of  farmers  that  met  them,  Lincoln 
was  lavish  in  praise  of  the  generosity  of  his  friend.  "I  am 
too  poor  to  own  a  carriage,"  he  said,  "but  my  friend  has  gen- 
erously invited  me  to  ride  with  him.  I  want  you  to  vote  for 
me  if  you  will ;  but  if  not  then  vote  for  my  opponent,  for  he 
is  a  fine  man."  His  extravagant  and  persistent  praise  of  his 
opponent  appealed  to  the  sense  of  humor  in  his  rural  au- 
dience, to  whom  his  inability  to  own  a  carriage  was  by 
no  means  a  disqualification. 

The  election  came  off  in  August,  and  resulted  in  the  choice 
of  a  delegation  from  Sangamon  County  famous  in  the  annals 
of  Illinois.  The  nine  successful  candidates  were  Abraham 
Lincoln,  John  Dawson,  Daniel  Stone,  Ninian  W.  Edwards, 
William  F.  Elkins,  R.  L.  Wilson,  Andrew  McCormick,  Job 
Fletcher,  and  Arthur  Herndon.  Each  one  of  these  men  was 
over  six  feet  in  height,  their  combined  stature  being,  it  is 
said,  fifty-five  feet.  "The  Long  Nine"  was  the  name  Sanga- 
mon County  gave  them. 

As  soon  as  the  election  was  over  Lincoln  occupied  himself 
in  settling  another  matter,  of  much  greater  moment.  He  went 
to  Springfield  to  seek  admission  to  the  bar.  The  "roll  of  at- 
torneys and  counsellors  at  law,"  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 


{FACSIMILE  OF  A  MAP  OF   ALBANY,   ILL.,  MADE   BT  LINCOLN. 


132  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  shows 
that  his  license  was  dated  September  9,  1836,  and  that  the 
date  of  the  enrollment  of  his  name  upon  the  official  list  was 
March  i,  1837.  The  first  case  in  which  he  was  concerned,  as 
far  as  we  know,  was  that  of  Hawthorne  against  Woolridge. 
He  made  his  first  appearance  in  court  in  October,  1836. 

Although  he  had  given  much  time  during  this  year  to  poli- 
tics and  the  law,  he  had  by  no  means  abandoned  surveying. 
Indeed  he  never  had  more  calls.  The  grandiose  scheme  of 
internal  improvements  initiated  the  winter  before  had  stimu- 
lated speculation  and  Lincoln  frequently  was  obliged  to  be 
away  for  three  and  four  weeks  at  a  time,  laying  out  new 
towns  or  locating  new  roads. 

Every  such  trip  added  to  his  political  capital.  Such  was 
his  reputation  throughout  the  country  that  when  he  got  a 
job,  says  the  Hon.  J.  M.  Ruggles,  a  friend  and  political  sup- 
porter, there  was  a  picnic  and  jolly  time  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. Men  and  boys  gathered  from  far  and  near,  ready  to 
carry  chain,  drive  stakes,  and  blaze  trees,  if  they  could  only 
hear  Lincoln's  odd  stories  and  jokes.  The  fun  was  inter- 
spersed with  foot  races  and  wrestling  matches.  To  this  day 
the  old  settlers  in  many  a  place  of  central  Illinois  repeat  the 
incidents  of  Lincoln's  sojourns  in  their  neighborhood  while 
surveying  their  town. 

In  December  Lincoln  put  away  his  surveying  instruments 
to  go  to  Vandalia  for  the  opening  session  of  the  Tenth  As- 
sembly, Larger  by  fifty  members  than  its  predecessor,  this 
body  was  as  much  superior  in  intellect  as  in  numbers.  It  in- 
cluded among  its  members  a  future  President  ui  the  United 
States,  a  future  candidate  for  the  same  high  office,  six  future 
United  States  Senators,  eight  future  members  of  the  Na- 
tional House  of  Representatives,  a  future  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  and  three  future  Judges  of  the  State  Supreme  Court. 
Here  sat  side  by  side  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A. 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  133 

Douglas;  Edward  Dickinson  Baker,  who  represented  at  dif- 
ferent times  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Oregon  in  the  national 
councils;  O.  H.  Browning,  a  prospective  senator  and  future 
cabinet  officer,  and  William  L.  D.  Ewing,  who  had  just 
served  in  the  senate ;  John  Logan,  father  of  the  late  General 
John  A.  Logan ;  Robert  M.  Cullom,  father  of  Senator  Shelby 
M.  Cullom;  John  A.  McClernand,  afterwards  member  of 
congress  for  many  years,  and  a  distinguished  general  in  the 
late  civil  war ;  and  many  others  of  national  repute. 

The  members  came  to  Vandalia  full  of  hope  and  exulta- 
tion. In  their  judgment  it  needed  only  a  few  months  of  leg- 
islation to  put  their  State  by  the  side  of  New  York;  and 
from  the  opening  of  the  session  they  were  overflowing  with 
excitement  and  schemes.  In  the  general  ebullition  of  spirits 
which  characterized  the  assembly,  Lincoln  had  little  share. 
Only  a  week  after  the  opening  of  the  session  he  wrote  to  a 
friend,  Mary  Owens,  at  New  Salem,  that  he  had  been  ill, 
though  he  believed  himself  to  be  about  well  then;  and  he 
added:  "But  that,  with  other  things  I  cannot  account  for, 
have  conspired,  and  have  gotten  my  spirits  so  low  that  I  feel 
I  would  rather  be  any  place  in  the  world  than  here.  I  really 
cannot  endure  the  thought  of  staying  here  ten  weeks." 

Though  depressed,  he  was  far  from  being  inactive.  The 
Sangamon  delegation,  in  fact,  had  its  hands  full,  and  to  no 
one  of  the  nine  had  more  been  entrusted  than  to  Lincoln.  In 
common  with  almost  every  delegation,  they  had  been  in- 
structed by  their  constituents  to  adopt  a  scheme  of  internal 
improvements  complete  enough  to  give  every  budding  town 
in  Illinois  easy  communication  with  the  world.  This  for  the 
State  in  general;  for  Sangamon  County  in  particular,  they 
had  been  directed  to  secure  the  capital.  The  change  in  the 
State's  centre  of  population  made  it  advisable  to  move  the 
seat  of  government  northward  from  Vandalia,  and  Spring- 
field was  anxious  to  secure  it.  To  Lincoln  was  entrusted  the 


134  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

work  of  putting  through  the  bill  to  remove  the  capital.  In 
the  same  letter  quoted  from  above  he  tells  Miss  Owens :  "Our 
chance  to  take  the  seat  of  government  to  Springfield  is  bet- 
ter than  I  expected."  Regarding  the  internal  improvements 
scheme  he  feels  less  confident :  "Some  of  the  legislature  are 
for  it,  and  some  against;  which  has  the  majority,  I  cannot 
tell." 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  all  uncertainty  about  in- 
ternal improvements  was  over.  The  people  were  determined 
to  have  them,  and  the  assembly  responded  to  their  demands 
by  passing  an  act  which  provided,  at  State  expense,  for  rail- 
roads, canals,  or  river  improvements  in  almost  every  county 
in  Illinois.  No  finer  bit  of  imaginative  work  was  ever  done, 
in  fact,  by  a  legislative  body,  than  the  map  of  internal  im- 
provements laid  out  by  the  Tenth  Assembly. 

With  splendid  disdain  of  town  settlements  and  resources 
they  ran  the  railroads  into  the  counties  they  thought  ought 
to  be  opened  up,  and  if  there  was  no  terminus  they  laid  out 
one.  They  improved  the  rivers  and  they  dug  canals,  they 
built  bridges  and  drained  the  swamps,  they  planned  to  make 
the  waste  places  blossom  and  to  people  the  forests  with  men. 
This  project  was  to  benefit  every  hamlet  of  the  State,  said  its 
defenders,  and  to  compensate  the  counties  which  were  not  to 
have  railroads  or  canals  they  voted  them  a  sum  of  money  for 
roads  and  bridges. 

There  was  no  time  to  estimate  exactly  the  cost  of  these 
fine  plans.  Nor  did  they  feel  any  need  of  estimates ;  that 
was  a  mere  matter  of  detail.  They  would  vote  a  fund,  and 
when  that  was  exhausted  they  would  vote  more ;  and  so  they 
appropriated  sum  after  sum :  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
to  improve  the  Rock  river ;  one  million  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  to  build  a  road  from  Quincy  to  Danville;  four 
million  dollars  to  complete  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal ; 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  for  the  Western  Mail  Route 


WAP  OP  '*• 

ILLINOIS 

ILLUSTRATING 

An  Aat  to  establish  and  imdntcdn  a 
General  System  of  Internal  Improvement* 
foroe  27th  Feb.  1837" 

SCALE  OF  MILES 

o     i'o    :w~~sb    49   'tis     »o 


MXtJtir  *  WATEt.  1I«»'S,  M.V. 


136  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

— in  all,  some  twelve  million  dollars.  To  carry  out  the  elab- 
orate scheme,  they  provided  a  commission,  one  of  the  first 
duties  of  which  was  to  sell  the  bonds  of  the  State  to  raise  the 
money  for  the  enterprise.  The  majority  of  the  assembly 
seem  not  to  have  entertained  for  a  moment  an  idea  that  there 
would  be  any  difficulty  in  selling  at  a  premium  the  bonds  of 
Illinois.  "On  the  contrary,"  says  General  Linder,  in  his 
"Reminiscences,"  "the  enthusiastic  friends  of  the  measure 
maintained  that,  instead  of  there  being  any  difficulty  in  ob- 
taining a  loan  of  the  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  authorized  to 
be  borrowed,  our  bonds  would  go  like  hot  cakes,  and  be 
sought  for  by  the  Rothschilds,  and  Baring  Brothers,  and 
others  of  that  stamp ;  and  that  the  premiums  which  we  would 
obtain  upon  them  would  range  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  per 
cent.,  and  that  the  premium  itself  would  be  sufficient  to  con- 
struct most  of  the  important  works,  leaving  the  principal  sum 
to  go  into  our  treasury,  and  leave  the  people  free  from  taxa- 
tion for  years  to  come." 

The  scheme  was  carried  without  difficulty  and  the  work 
of  raising  money  and  of  grading  road-beds  began  almost 
simultaneously.  All  of  this  seems  insane  enough  to-day, 
knowing  as  we  do  that  it  ended  in  panic  and  bankruptcy,  in 
deserted  road-beds  and  unpaid  bills,  but  at  that  time  the 
measure  seemed  to  the  legislature  only  the  enterprise  which 
the  prospects  of  the  country  demanded.  Illinois  was  not  alone 
in  confidence  and  recklessness.  Her  folly  was  that  of  the 
whole  country.  Never  had  there  been  a  period  of  rasher 
speculation  and  inflation.  The  entire  debt  of  the  country  had 
been  paid,  and  a  great  income  was  pouring  in  on  the  federal 
government.  The  completion  of  certain  great  works  like  the 
Erie  Canal  had  stimulated  trade,  and  greatly  increased  the 
value  of  lands.  Every  variety  of  industry  was  succeeding. 
Capital  was  pouring  in  from  Europe  which  seemed  dazzled 
at  the  thought  of  a  nation  free  from  debt  with  a  revenue  so 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  137 

great  that  she  was  forced  to  distribute  it  quarterly  to  her 
States  as  the  United  States  began  to  do  in  January,  1837.  An 
exaggerated  confidence  in  regard  to  the  future  of  the  country- 
possessed  both  foreign  and  domestic  capitalist.  Credit  was 
practically  unlimited,  "Debt  was  the  road  to  wealth"  and  men 
could  realize  millions  on  the  wildest  schemes.  Little  wonder 
that  Lincoln  and  his  associates,  ignorant  of  the  history  of 
finance  and  governed  as  they  were  by  popular  opinion,  fell 
into  the  delusion  of  the  day  and  sought  to  found  a  State  on 
credit. 

Although  Lincoln  favored  and  aided  in  every  way  the 
plan  for  internal  improvements,  his  real  work  was  in  secur- 
ing the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Springfield.  The  task  was 
by  no  means  an  easy  one  to  direct,  for  outside  of  the  "Long 
Nine"  there  was,  of  course,  nobody  particularly  interested  in 
Springfield,  and  there  were  delegations  from  a  dozen  other 
counties  hot  to  secure  the  capital  for  their  own  constituencies. 
It  took  patient  and  clever  manipulation  to  put  the  bill 
through.  Certain  votes  Lincoln,  no  doubt,  gained  for  his 
cause  by  force  of  his  personal  qualities.  Thus  Jesse  K.  Du- 
bois  says  that  he  and  his  colleagues  voted  for  the  bill  because 
they  liked  Lincoln  and  wanted  to  oblige  him ;  but  probably 
the  majority  he  won  by  skillful  log-rolling.  The  very  few 
letters  written  by  him  at  this  time  which  have  been  preserved 
show  this ;  for  instance  a  letter  to  John  Bennett  in  which  he 
says: 

"  Mr.  Edwards  tells  me  you  wish  to  know  whether  the  act 
to  which  your  town  incorporation  provision  was  attached 
passed  into  a  law.  It  did.  You  can  organize  under  the  gen- 
eral incorporation  law  as  soon  as  you  choose. 

"I  also  tacked  a  provision  on  to  a  fellow's  bill,  to  authorize 
the  relocation  of  the  road  from  Salem  down  to  your  town, 
but  I  am  not  certain  whether  or  not  the  bill  passed.  Neither 
do  I  suppose  I  can  ascertain  before  the  law  will  be  published 
• — if  it  is  a  law." 


138  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

There  is  nothing  in  his  correspondence,  however,  to  show 
that  he  ever  sacrificed  his  principles  in  these  trades.  Every- 
thing we  know  of  his  transactions  are  indeed  to  the  contrary. 
General  T.  H.  Henderson,  of  Illinois,  says  in  his  reminis- 
cences of  Lincoln : 

"  Before  I  had  ever  seen  Abraham  Lincoln  I  heard  my 
father,  who  served  with  him  in  the  legislature  of  1838-39  and 
of  1840-41,  relate  an  incident  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  life  which 
illustrates  his  character  for  integrity  and  his  firmness  in 
maintaining  what  he  regarded  as  right  in  his  public  acts,  in 
a  marked  manner. 

"  I  do  not  remember  whether  this  incident  occurred  during 
the  session  of  the  legislature  in  1836-37  or  1838-39.  But  I 
think  it  was  in  that  of  1836-37,  when  it  was  said  that  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  log-rolling  going  on  among  the  members. 
But,  however  that  may  be,  according  to  the  story  related  by 
my  father,  an  effort  was  made  to  unite  the  friends  of  capital 
removal  with  the  friends  of  some  measure  which  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, for  some  reason,  did  not  approve.  What  that  measure 
was  to  which  he  objected,  I  am  not  now  able  to  recall.  But 
those  who  desired  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Springfield 
were  very  anxious  to  effect  the  proposed  combination,  and  a 
meeting  was  held  to  see  if  it  could  be  accomplished.  The 
meeting  continued  in  session  nearly  all  night,  when  it  ad- 
journed without  accomplishing  anything,  Mr.  Lincoln  re- 
fusing to  yield  his  objections  and  to  support  the  obnoxious 
measure. 

Another  meeting  was  called,  and  at  this  second  meeting 
a  number  of  citizens,  not  members  of  the  legislature,  from 
the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  State,  among  them  my 
father,  were  present  by  invitation.  The  meeting  was  long 
protracted,  and  earnest  in  its  deliberations.  Every  argument 
that  could  be  thought  of  was  used  to  induce  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
yield  his  objections  and  unite  with  his  friends,  and  thus  se- 
cure the  removal  of  the  capital  to  his  own  city;  but  without 
effect.  Finally,  after  midnight,  when  everybody  seemed  ex- 
hausted with  the  discussion,  and  when  the  candles  were  burn- 
ing low  in  the  room,  Mr.  Lincoln  rose  amid  the  silence  and 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  139 

solemnity  which  prevailed,  and,  my  father  said,  made  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  and  powerful  speeches  to  which  he  had 
ever  listened.  He  concluded  his  remarks  by  saying: 
'You  may  burn  my  body  to  ashes,  and  scatter  them  to  the 
winds  of  heaven ;  you  may  drag  my  soul  down  to  the  regions 
of  darkness  and  despair  to  be  tormented  forever;  but  you 
will  never  get  me  to  support  a  measure  which  I  believe  to  be 
wrong,  although  by  doing  so  I  may  accomplish  that  which 
I  believe  to  be  right/  And  the  meeting  adjourned." 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  Democrats  charged  that  the 
Whigs  of  Sangamon  had  won  their  victory  by  "bargain  and 
corruption."  These  charges  became  so  serious  that,  in  an 
extra  session  called  in  the  summer  of  1837,  a  few  months 
after  the  bill  passed,  Lincoln  had  a  bitter  fight  over  them 
with  General  L.  D.  Ewing,  who  wanted  to  keep  the  capital  at 
Vandalia.  "The  arrogance  of  Springfield,"  said  General 
Ewing,  "its  presumption  in  claiming  the  seat  of  government, 
is  not  to  be  endured ;  the  law  has  been  passed  by  chicanery 
and  trickery ;  the  Springfield  delegation  has  sold  out  to  the 
internal  improvement  men,  and  has  promised  its  support  to 
every  measure  that  would  gain  a  vote  to  the  law  removing 
the  seat  of  government." 

Lincoln  answered  in  a  speech  of  such  severity  and  keen- 
ness that  the  House  believed  he  was  "digging  his  own 
grave,"  for  Ewing  was  a  high-spirited  man  who  would  not 
hesitate  to  answer  by  a  challenge.  It  was,  in  fact,  only  the ' 
interference  of  their  friends  which  prevented  a  duel  at  this 
time  between  Ewing  and  Lincoln.  This  speech,  to  many  of 
Lincoln's  colleagues,  was  a  revelation  of  his  ability  and  char- 
acter. "This  was  the  first  time,"  said  General  Linder,  "that 
I  began  to  conceive  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  talents  and 
personal  courage  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

A  few  months  later  the  "Long  Nine"  were  again  attacked, 
Lincoln  specially  being  abused.  The  assailant  this  time  was 


140  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

a  prominent  Democrat,  Mr.  J.  B.  Thomas.  When  he  had 
ended,  Lincoln  replied  in  a  speech  which  was  long  known  in 
local  political  circles  as  the  "skinning  of  Thomas." 

No  one  doubted  after  this  that  Lincoln  could  defend  him- 
self. He  became  doubly  respected  as  an  opponent,  for  his 
reputation  for  good-humored  raillery  had  already  been  estab- 
lished in  his  campaigns.  In  a  speech  made  in  January  he 
gave  another  evidence  of  his  skill  in  the  use  of  ridicule.  A 
resolution  had  been  offered  by  Mr.  Linder  to  institute  an  in- 
quiry into  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  State  bank. 
Lincoln's  remarks  on  the  resolution  form  his  first  reported 
speech.  He  began  his  remarks  by  good-humored  but  net- 
tling chaffing  of  his  opponent. 

"Mr.  Chairman,"  he  said.  "Lest  I  should  fall  into  the  too 
common  error  of  being  mistaken  in  regard  to  which  side  I  de- 
sign to  be  upon,  I  shall  make  it  my  first  care  to  remove  all 
doubt  on  that  point,  by  declaring  that  I  am  opposed  to  the 
resolution  under  consideration,  in  toto.  Before  I  proceed  to 
the  body  of  the  subject,  I  will  further  remark,  that  it  is  not 
without  a  considerable  degree  of  apprehension  that  I  venture 
to  cross  the  track  of  the  gentleman  from  Coles  (Mr.  Linder). 
Indeed,  I  do  not  believe  I  could  muster  a  sufficiency  of  cour- 
age to  come  in  contact  with  that  gentleman,  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  he,  some  days  since,  most  graciously  conde- 
scended to  assure  us  that  he  would  never  be  found  wasting 
Ammunition  on  small  game.  On  the  same  fortunate  occa- 
sion he  further  gave  us  to  understand  that  he  regarded  him- 
self as  being  decidedly  the  superior  of  our  common  friend 
from  Randolph  (Mr.  Shields)  ;  and  feeling,  as  I  really  do, 
that  I,  to  say  the  most  of  myself,  am  nothing  more  than  the 
peer  of  our  friend  from  Randolph,  I  shall  regard  the  gentle- 
man from  Coles  as  decidedly  my  superior  also;  and  conse- 
quently, in  the  course  of  what  I  shall  have  to  say,  whenever 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  allude  to  that  gentleman  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  adopt  that  kind  of  court  language  which  I  under- 
stand to  be  due  to  decided  superiority.  In  one  faculty,  at 
least,  there  can  be  no  dispute  of  the  gentlernan's  superiority 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS 

over  me,  and  most  other  men ;  and  that  is,  the  faculty  of  en- 
tangling a  subject  so  that  neither  himself,  or  any  other  man, 
can  find  head  or  tail  to  it." 

Taking  up  the  resolution  on  the  bank,  he  declared  its 
meaning : 

"Some  gentlemen  have  their  stock  in  their  hands,  while 
others,  who  have  more  money  than  they  know  what  to  do 
with,  want  it ;  and  this,  and  this  alone,  is  the  question,  to  set- 
tle which  we  are  called  on  to  squander  thousands  of  the  peo- 
ple's money.  What  interest,  let  me  ask,  have  the  people  in 
the  settlement  of  this  question?  What  difference  is  it  to 
them  whether  the  stock  is  owned  by  Judge  Smith  or  Sam 
Wiggins  ?  If  any  gentleman  be  entitled  to  stock  in  the  bank, 
which  he  is  kept  out  of  possession  of  by  others,  let  him  as- 
sert his  right  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  let  him  or  his  an- 
tagonist, whichever  may  be  found  in  the  wrong,  pay  the 
costs  of  suit.  It  is  an  old  maxim,  and  a  very  sound  one,  that 
he  that  dances  should  always  pay  the  fiddler.  Now,  sir,  in 
the  present  case,  if  any  gentlemen  whose  money  is  a  burden 
to  them,  choose  to  lead  off  a  dance,  I  am  decidedly  opposed 
to  the  people's  money  being  used  to  pay  the  fiddler.  No  one 
can  doubt  that  the  examination  proposed  by  this  resolution 
must  cost  the  State  some  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars ;  and 
all  this  to  settle  a  question  in  which  the  people  have  no  in- 
terest, and  about  which  they  care  nothing.  These  capitalists 
generally  act  harmoniously  and  in  concert  to  fleece  the  peo- 
ple; and  now  that  they  have  got  into  a  quarrel  with  them- 
selves, we  are  called  upon  to  appropriate  the  people's  money 
to  settle  the  quarrel." 

The  resolution  had  declared  that  the  bank  practised 
various  methods  which  were  "to  the  great  injury  of  the  peo- 
ple." Lincoln  took  the  occasion  to  announce  his  ideas  of  the 
people  and  the  politicians. 

"If  the  bank  really  be  a  grievance,  why  is  it  that  no  one  of 
the  real  people  is  found  to  ask  redress  of  it  ?  The  truth  is,  no 
such  oppression  exists.  If  it  did,  our  people  would  groan 
with  memorials  and  petitions,  and  we  would  not  be  permitted 


142  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

to  rest  day  or  night  till  we  had  put  it  down.  The  people 
know  their  rights,  and  they  are  never  slow  to  assert  and 
maintain  them  when  they  are  invaded.  Let  them  call  for  an 
investigation,  and  I  shall  ever  stand  ready  to  respond  to  the 
call.  But  they  have  made  no  such  call.  I  make  the  assertion 
boldly,  and  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  no  man  who 
does  not  hold  an  office,  or  does  not  aspire  to  one,  has  ever 
found  any  fault  of  the  bank.  It  has  doubled  the  prices  of  the 
products  of  their  farms,  and  filled  their  pockets  with  a  sound 
circulating  medium;  and  they  are  all  well  pleased  with  its 
operations.  No,  sir,  it  is  the  politician  who  is  the  first  to 
sound  the  alarm  (which,  by  the  way,  is  a  false  one).  It  is 
he  who,  by  these  unholy  means,  is  endeavoring  to  blow  up  a 
storm  that  he  may  ride  upon  and  direct.  It  is  he,  and  he 
alone,  that  here  proposes  to  spend  thousands  of  the  people's 
public  treasure,  for  no  other  advantage  to  them  than  to  make 
valueless  in  their  pockets  the  reward  of  their  industry.  Mr. 
Chairman,  this  work  is  exclusively  the  work  of  politicians — 
a  set  of  men  who  have  interests  aside  from  the  interests  of 
the  people,  and  who,  to  say  the  most  of  them,  are,  taken  as  a 
mass,  at  least  one  step  removed  from  honest  men.  I  say  this 
with  the  greater  freedom,  because,  being  a  politician  myself, 
none  can  regard  it  as  personal." 

The  speech  was  published  in  full  in  the  "Sangamon  Jour- 
nal" for  Jan.  28,  1837,  and  the  editor  commented : 

"  Mr.  Lincoln's  remarks  on  Mr.  Linder's  bank  resolution 
in  the  paper  are  quite  to  the  point.  Our  friend  carries  the 
true  Kentucky  rifle,  and  when  he  fires  he  seldom  fails  of 
sending  the  shot  home." 

One  other  act  of  his  in  this  session  cannot  be  ignored.  It 
is  a  sinister  note  in  the  hopeful  chorus  of  the  Tenth  Assem- 
bly. For  months  there  had  come  from  the  southern  States 
violent  protests  against  the  growth  of  abolition  agitation  in 
the  North.  Garrison's  paper,  the  "  infernal  Liberator,"  as  it 
was  called  in  the  pro-slavery  part  of  the  country,  had  been 
gradually  extending  its  circulation  and  its  influence;  and  it 
already  had  imitators  even  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  143 

The  American  Anti-slavery  Society  was  now  over  three 
years  old.  A  deep,  unconquerable  conviction  of  the  iniquity 
of  slavery  was  spreading  through  the  North.  The  South  felt 
it  and  protested,  and  the  statesmen  of  the  North  joined  them 
in  their  protest.  Slavery  could  not  be  crushed,  said  the  con- 
servatives. It  was  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution.  The 
South  must  be  supported  in  its  claims,  and  agitation  stopped. 
But  the  agitation  went  on,  and  riots,  violence,  and  hatred 
pursued  the  agitators.  In  Illinois,  in  this  very  year,  1837,  we 
have  a  printing-office  raided  and  an  anti-slavery  editor, 
Elijah  Lovejoy,  killed  by  the  citizens  of  Alton,  who  were  de- 
termined that  it  should  not  be  said  among  them  that  slavery 
was  an  iniquity. 

To  silence  the  storm,  mass-meetings  of  citizens,  the  United 
States  Congress,  the  State  legislatures,  took  up  the  question 
and  again  and  again  voted  resolutions  assuring  the  South 
that  the  Abolitionists  were  not  supported ;  that  the  country 
recognized  their  right  to  their  "  peculiar  institution,"  and 
that  in  no  case  should  they  be  interfered  with.  At  Spring- 
field, this  same  year  (1837)  the  citizens  convened  and  passed 
a  resolution  declaring  that  "the  efforts  of  Abolitionists  in  this 
community  are  neither  necessary  nor  useful."  When  the  riot 
occured  in  Alton,  the  Springfield  papers  uttered  no  word 
of  condemnation,  giving  the  affair  only  a  laconic  mention. 

The  Illinois  Assembly  joined  in  the  general  disapproval, 
and  on  March  3d  passed  the  following  resolutions : 

"  Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 

Illinois : 

"  That  we  highly  disapprove  of  the  formation  of  Abolition 
societies,  and  of  the  doctrines  promulgated  by  them. 

"  That  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  is  sacred  to  the 
slave-holding  States  by  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  that 
they  cannot  be  deprived  of  that  right  without  their  consent. 

"  That  the  General  Government  cannot  abolish  slavery  in 


144  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  District  of  Columbia  against  the  consent  of  the  citizens  oi 
said  District,  without  a  manifest  breach  of  good  faith. 

"  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  transmit  to  the  States 
of  Virginia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  New  York  and  Connecti- 
cut a  copy  of  the  foregoing  report  and  resolutions  " 

Lincoln  refused  to  vote  for  these  resolutions.  In  his  judg- 
ment no  expression  on  the  slavery  question  should  go  unac- 
companied by  the  statement  that  it  was  an  evil,  and  he  had 
the  boldness  to  protest  immediately  against  the  action  of  the 
House.  He  found  only  one  man  in  the  assembly  willing  to 
join  him  in  his  protest.  These  two  names  are  joined  to  the 
document  they  presented : 

"  Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having 
passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly  at  its  present 
session,  the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against  the  passage 
of  the  same. 

"  They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that  the  promulgation  of 
abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  abate  its 
evils. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  interfere  with  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  different  States. 

"  They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
the  power  under  the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be  ex- 
ercised, unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the  District. 

"  The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  con- 
tained in  the  resolutions  is  their  reason  for  entering  this  pro- 
test. "  DAN  STONE, 

"A.  LINCOLN, 
"  Representatives  from  the  County  of  Sangamon." 

The  Tenth  Assembly  gave  Lincoln  an  opportunity  to  show 
his  ability  as  a  political  manceuvrer,  his  power  as  a  speaker, 
and  his  courage  in  opposing  what  seemed  to  him  wrong. 


FIRST  PUBLISHED  ADDRESS  145 

There  had  never  been  a  session  of  the  assembly  when  the 
members  had  the  chance  to  make  so  wide  an  impression.  The 
character  of  the  legislation  on  foot  had  called  to  Vandalia 
numbers  of  persons  of  influence  from  almost  every  part  of 
the  State.  They  were  invariably  there  to  secure  something 
for  their  town  or  county,  and  naturally  made  a  point  of  learn- 
ing all  they  could  of  the  members  and  of  getting  as  well  ac- 
quainted with  them  as  circumstances  allowed.  Game  suppers 
seem  to  have  been  the  means  usually  employed  by  visitors  for 
bringing  people  together,  and  Lincoln  became  a  favorite 
guest  not  only  because  he  was  necessary  to  the  success  of  al- 
most any  measure,  but  because  he  was  so  jovial  a  companion. 
It  was  then  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  extensive  ac- 
quaintance throughout  the  State  which  in  after  years  stood 
him  in  excellent  stead. 

The  lobbyists  were  not  the  only  ones  in  Vandalia  who 
gave  suppers,  however.  Not  a  bill  was  passed  nor  an  election 
decided  that  a  banquet  did  not  follow.  Mr.  John  Bryant,  the 
brother  of  William  Cullen,  was  in  Vandalia  that  winter  in 
the  interest  of  his  county,  and  he  attended  one  of  these  ban- 
quets, given  by  the  successful  candidate  for  the  United  States 
Senate.  Lincoln  was  present,  of  course,  and  so  were  all  the 
prominent  politicians  of  the  State. 

"After  the  company  had  gotten  pretty  noisy  and  mellow 
from  their  imbibitions  of  Yellow  Seal  and  'corn  juice/  "  says 
Mr.  Bryant,  "Mr.  Douglas  and  General  Shields,  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  host  and  intense  merriment  of  the  guests, 
climbed  up  on  the  table,  at  one  end,  encircled  each  other's 
waists,  and  to  the  tune  of  a  rollicking  song,  pirouetted  down 
the  whole  length  of  the  table,  shouting,  singing,  and  kick- 
ing dishes,  glasses,  and  everything  right  and  left,  helter  skel- 
ter. For  this  night  of  entertainment  to  his  constituents,  the 
successful  candidate  was  presented  with  a  bill,  in  the  morn- 
ing, for  supper,  wines,  liquors,  and  damages,  which 
amounted  to  six  hundred  dollars." 
(10) 


146  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

But  boisterous  suppers  were  not  by  any  means  the  only 
feature  of  Lincoln's  social  life  that  winter  in  Vandalia.  There 
was  another  and  quieter  side  in  which  he  showed  his  rare 
companionableness  and  endeared  himself  to  many  people.  In 
the  midst  of  the  log-rolling  and  jubilations  of  the  session  he 
would  often  slip  away  to  some  acquaintance's  room  and 
spend  hours  in  talk  and  stories.  Mr.  John  Bryant  tells  of  his 
coming  frequently  to  his  room  at  the  hotel,  and  sitting  "with 
his  knees  up  to  his  chin,  telling  his  inimitable  stories  and  his 
triumphs  in  the  House  in  circumventing  the  Democrats." 

Major  Newton  Walker,  of  Lewiston,  who  was  in  Vandalia 
at  the  time,  says :  "I  used  to  play  the  fiddle  a  great  deal  and 
have  played  for  Lincoln  a  number  of  times.  He  used  to  come 
over  to  where  I  was  boarding  and  ask  me  to  play,  and  I 
would  take  the  fiddle  with  me  when  I  went  over  to  visit  him, 
and  when  he  grew  weary  of  telling  stories  he  would  ask  me 
to  give  him  a  tune,  which  I  never  refused  to  do." 


CHAPTER  X 

LINCOLN  BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW MARY  OWENS — A  NEWS- 
PAPER CONTEST GROWTH  OF  POLITICAL  INFLUENCE 

As  soon  as  the  assembly  closed,  Lincoln  returned  to  New 
Salem ;  but  not  to  stay.  He  had  determined  to  go  to  Spring- 
field. Major  John  Stuart,  the  friend  who  had  advised  him 
to  study  law  and  who  had  lent  him  books  and  with  whom  he 
had  been  associated  closely  in  politics,  had  offered  to  take 
him  as  a  partner.  It  was  a  good  opening,  for  Stuart  was  one 
of  the  leading  lawyers  and  politicians  of  the  State,  and  his  in- 
fluence would  place  Lincoln  at  once  in  command  of  more  or 
less  business.  From  every  point  of  view  the  change  seems  to 
have  been  wise ;  yet  Lincoln  made  it  with  foreboding. 

To  practise  law  he  must  abandon  his  business  as  surveyor, 
which  was  bringing  him  a  fair  income;  he  must  for  a  time, 
at  least,  go  without  a  certain  income.  If  he  failed,  what 
then  ?  The  uncertainty  weighed  on  him  heavily,  the  more  so 
because  he  was  burdened  by  the  debts  left  from  his  store  and 
because  he  was  constantly  called  upon  to  aid  his  father's  fam- 
ily. Thomas  Lincoln  had  remained  in  Coles  County,  but  he 
had  not,  in  these  six  years  in  which  his  son  had  risen  so  rap- 
idly, been  able  to  get  anything  more  than  a  poor  livelihood 
from  his  farm.  The  sense  of  responsibility  Lincoln  had 
towards  his  father's  family  made  it  the  more  difficult  for  him 
to  undertake  a  new  profession.  His  decision  was  made,  how- 
ever, and  as  soon  as  the  session  of  the  Tenth  Assembly  was 
over  he  started  for  Springfield.  His  first  appearance  there  is 
as  pathetic  as  amusing. 

"He  had  ridden  into  town,"  says  Joshua  Speed,  "on  a 
borrowed  horse,  with  no  earthly  property  save  a  pair  of  sad- 


148  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

die-bags  containing1  a  few  clothes.  I  was  a  merchant  at 
Springfield,  and  kept  a  large  country  store,  embracing  dry- 
goods,  groceries,  hardware,  books,  medicines,  bed-clothes, 
mattresses — in  fact,  everything  that  the  country  needed.  Lin- 
coln came  into  the  store  with  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm.  He 
said  he  wanted  to  buy  the  furniture  for  a  single  bed.  The 
mattress,  blankets,  sheets,  coverlid,  and  pillow,  according  to 
the  figures  made  by  me,  would  cost  seventeen  dollars.  He 
said  that  perhaps  was  cheap  enough ;  but  small  as  the  price 
was,  he  was  unable  to  pay  it.  But  if  I  would  credit  him  till 
Christmas,  and  his  experiment  as  a  lawyer  was  a  success,  he 
would  pay  then ;  saying  in  the  saddest  tone,  'If  I  fail  in  this 
I  do  not  know  that  I  can  ever  pay  you/  As  I  looked  up  at 
him  I  thought  then,  and  I  think  now,  that  I  never  saw  a  sad- 
der face. 

"I  said  to  him :  'You  seem  to  be  so  much  pained  at  con- 
tracting so  small  a  debt,  I  think  I  can  suggest  a  plan  by  which 
you  can  avoid  the  debt,  and  at  the  same  time  attain  your  end. 
I  have  a  large  room  with  a  double  bed  upstairs,  which  you  are 
very  welcome  to  share  with  me/ 

"  'Where  is  your  room  ?'  said  he. 

"  'Upstairs/  said  I,  pointing  to  a  pair  of  winding  stairs 
which  led  from  the  store  to  my  room. 

"He  took  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  went  upstairs,  set 
them  on  the  floor,  and  came  down  with  the  most  changed  ex- 
pression of  countenance.  Beaming  with  pleasure,  he  ex- 
claimed : 

"  'Well,  Speed,  I  am  moved/  ' 

Another  friend,  William  Butler,  with  whom  Lincoln  had 
become  intimate  at  Vandalia,  took  him  to  board;  life  at 
Springfield  thus  began  under  as  favorable  auspices  as  he 
could  hope  for. 

After  Chicago,  Springfield  was  at  that  day  the  most  prom- 
ising city  in  Illinois.  It  had  some  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants, 
and  the  removal  of  the  capital  was  certain  to  bring  many 
more.  Already,  in  fact,  the  town  felt  the  effect.  "The  owner 
of  real  estate  sees  his  property  rapidly  enhancing  in  value," 
declared  the  "Sangamon  Journal ;"  "the  merchant  anticipates 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  149 

a  large  accession  to  our  population  and  a  corresponding  addi- 
tional sale  for  his  goods ;  the  mechanic  already  has  more  con- 
tracts offered  him  for  building  and  improvements  than  he 
can  execute ;  the  farmer  anticipates  the  growth  of  a  large  and 
important  town,  a  market  for  the  varied  products  of  his 
farm ; — indeed,  every  class  of  our  citizens  look  to  the  future 
with  confidence,  that,  we  trust,  will  not  be  disappointed." 

The  effect  was  apparent  too,  in  society.  "We  used  to  eat 
all  together,"  said  an  old  man  who  in  the  early  thirties  came 
to  Springfield  as  a  hostler;  "but  about  this  time  some  one 
came  along  and  told  the  people  they  oughtn't  to  do  so,  and 
then  the  hired  folks  ate  in  the  kitchen."  This  differentiation 
was  apparent  to  Lincoln  and  a  little  discouraging.  He  was 
thinking  at  the  time  of  this  removal  of  marrying,  but  he  soon 
saw  that  it  was  quite  out  of  the  question  for  him  to  support  a 
wife  in  Springfield. 

"I  am  afraid  you  would  not  be  satisfied,"  he  wrote  the 
young  woman,  "  there  is  a  great  deal  of  flourishing  about  in 
carriages  here,  which  it  would  be  your  doom  to  see  without 
sharing  it.  You  would  have  to  be  poor,  without  the  means  of 
hiding  your  poverty.  Do  you  believe  you  could  bear  that  pa- 
tiently?" 

Lincoln's  idea  of  marrying  Mary  Owens,  of  whom  he 
asked  this  question,  was  the  result  of  a  Quixotic  sense  of 
honor  which  had  curiously  blinded  him  to  the  girl's  real  feel- 
ing for  him.  The  affair  had  begun  in  the  fall  of  1836,  when 
a  woman  of  his  acquaintance  who  was  going  to  Kentucky 
on  a  visit,  proposed  laughingly  to  bring  back  a  sister  of  hers 
on  condition  that  Lincoln  marry  her. 

"  I  of  course  accepted  the  proposal,"  Lincoln  wrote 
afterwards  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  O.  H.  Browning,  "for  you 
know  I  could  not  have  done  otherwise  had  I  really  been 
averse  to  it;  but  privatelv,  between  you  and  me,  I  was 


150  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

most  confoundedly  well  pleased  with  the  project.  I  had 
seen  the  said  sister  some  three  years  before,  thought 
her  intelligent  and  agreeable,  and  saw  no  good  objec- 
tion to  plodding  life  through  hand  in  hand  with  her.  Time 
passed  on,  the  lady  took  her  journey  and  in  due  time  re- 
turned, sister  in  company,  sure  enough.  This  astonished  me 
a  little,  for  it  appeared  to  me  that  her  coming  so  readily 
showed  that  she  was  a  trifle  too  willing,  but  on  reflection  it 
occurred  to  me  that  she  might  have  been  prevailed  on  by  her 
married  sister  to  come,  without  anything  concerning  me  ever 
having  been  mentioned  to  her,  and  so  I  concluded  that  if  no 
other  objection  presented  itself,  I  would  consent  to  waive 
this." 

Another  objection  did  present  itself  as  soon  as  he  saw  the 
lady.  He  was  anything  but  pleased  with  her  appearance. 

"But  what  could  I  do  ?"  he  continues  in  his  letter  to  Mrs. 
Browning.  "I  had  told  her  sister  that  I  would  take  her  for 
better  or  for  worse,  and  I  made  a  point  of  honor  and  con- 
science in  all  things  to  stick  to  my  word,  especially  if  others 
had  been  induced  to  act  on  it,  which  in  this  case  I  had  no 
doubt  they  had,  for  I  was  now  fairly  convinced  that  no  other 
man  on  earth  would  have  her,  and  hence  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  bent  on  holding  me  to  my  bargain.  'Well,  thought 
I,  'I  have  said  it,  and,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may,  it 
shall  not  be  my  fault  if  I  fail  to  do  it.'  At  once  I  determined 
to  consider  her  my  wife,  and  this  done,  all  my  powers  of  dis- 
covery were  put  to  work  in  search  of  perfections  in  her  which 
might  be  fairly  set  off  against  her  defects.  I  tried  to  imagine 
her  handsome,  which,  but  for  her  unfortunate  corpulency, 
was  actually  true.  Exclusive  of  this,  no  woman  that  I  have 
ever  seen  has  a  finer  face.  I  also  tried  to  convince  myself  that 
the  mind  was  much  more  to  be  valued  than  the  person,  and 
in  this  she  was  not  inferior,  as  I  could  discover,  to  any  with 
whom  I  had  been  acquainted. 

"Shortly  after  this,  without  attempting  to  come  to  any 
positive  understanding  with  her,  I  set  out  for  Vandalia,  when 
and  where  you  first  saw  me.  During  my  stay  there  I  had  let- 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  151 

tcrs  from  her  which  did  not  change  my  opinion  of  either  her 
intellect  or  intention,  but,  on  the  contrary,  confirmed  it  in 
both. 

"All  this  while,  although  I  was  fixed  'firm  as  the  surge-re- 
pelling rock'  in  my  resolution,  I  found  I  was  continually  re- 
penting the  rashness  which  had  led  me  to  make  it.  Through 
life  I  have  been  in  no  bondage,  either  real  or  imaginary,  from 
the  thraldom  of  which  I  so  much  desired  to  be  free.  After 
my  return  home  I  saw  nothing  to  change  my  opinion  of  her 
in  any  particular.  She  was  the  same,  and  so  was  I.  I  now 
spent  my  time  in  planning  how  I  might  get  along  in  life  after 
\ny  contemplated  change  of  circumstances  should  have  taken 
place,  and  how  I  might  procrastinate  the  evil  day  for  a  time, 
which  I  really  dreaded  as  much,  perhaps  more,  than  an 
Irishman  does  the  halter/' 

Lincoln  was  in  this  state  of  mind  when  he  went  to  Spring- 
field and  discovered  how  unfit  his  resources  were  to  support 
a  wife  there.  Although  he  put  the  question  of  poverty  so 
plainly  he  assured  Miss  Owens  that  if  she  married  him  he 
would  do  all  in  his  power  to  make  her  happy. 

"Whatever  woman  may  cast  her  lot  with  mine,"  he  wrote 
her,  "should  any  ever  do  so,  it  is  my  intention  to  do  all  in  my 
power  to  make  her  happy  and  contented ;  and  there  is  noth- 
ing I  can  imagine  that  would  make  me  more  unhappy  than  to 
fail  in  the  effort.  I  know  I  should  be  much  happier  with  you 
than  the  way  I  am,  provided  I  saw  no  signs  of  discontent  in 
you.  What  you  have  said  to  me  may  have  been  in  the  way 
of  jest,  or  I  may  have  misunderstood  it.  If  so,  then  let  it  be 
forgotten ;  if  otherwise,  I  much  wish  you  would  think  seri- 
ously before  you  decide.  What  I  have  said  I  will  most  posi- 
tively abide  by,  provided  you  wish  it.  My  opinion  is  that 
you  had  better  not  do  it.  You  have  not  been  accustomed  to 
hardship,  and  it  may  be  more  serious  than  you  now  imagine. 
I  know  you  are  capable  of  thinking  correctly  on  any  subject, 
and  if  you  deliberate  maturely  upon  this  before  YOU  decide, 
then  I  am  willing  to  abide  your  decision." 


OF  LINCOLN 

This  decidedly  dispassionate  view  of  their  relation  seems 
not  to  have  brought  any  decision  from  Miss  Owens;  for 
three  months  later  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  her  an  equally  judicial 
letter,  telling  her  that  he  could  not  think  of  her  "  with  en- 
tire indifference,"  that  he  in  all  cases  wanted  to  do  right  and 
"most  particularly  so  in  all  cases  with  women,"  and  summing 
up  his  position  as  follows : 

"I  now  say  that  you  can  now  drop  the  subject,  dismiss 
your  thoughts  (if  you  ever  had  any)  from  me  forever,  and 
leave  this  letter  unanswered,  without  calling  forth  one  ac- 
cusing murmur  from  me.  And  I  will  even  go  further,  and 
say  that  if  it  will  add  anything  to  your  comfort  or  peace  of 
mind  to  do  so,  it  is  my  sincere  wish  that  you  should.  Do  not 
understand  by  this  that  I  wish  to  cut  your  acquaintance.  I 
mean  no  such  thing. 

"What  I  do  wish  is  that  our  further  acquaintance  shall  de- 
pend upon  yourself.  If  such  further  acquaintance  would 
contribute  nothing  to  your  happiness,  I  am  sure  it  would  not 
to  mine.  If  you  feel  yourself  in  any  degree  bound  to  me,  I  am 
now  willing  to  release  you,  provided  you  wish  it ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  am  willing  and  even  anxious  to  bind  you 
faster,  if  I  can  be  convinced  that  it  will,  in  any  considerable 
degree,  add  to  your  happiness.  This,  indeed,  is  the  whole 
question  with  me.  Nothing  would  make  me  more  miserable 
than  to  believe  you  miserable — nothing  more  happy  than  to 
know  you  were  so." 

Miss  Owens  had  enough  discernment  to  recognize  the  dis- 
interestedness of  this  love-making,  and  she  refused  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's offer.  She  found  him  "deficient  in  those  little  links 
which  make  up  the  chain  of  a  woman's  happiness,"  she  said. 
When  finally  refused  Lincoln  wrote  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing from  which  the  above  citations  have  been  taken.  He  con- 
cluded it  with  an  account  of  the  effect  on  himself  of  Miss 
Owens'  refusal: 

"  I  was  mortified,  it  seemed  to  me,  in  a  hundred  differerl 
ways.  My  vanity  was  deeply  wounded  by  the  reflection  that 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  153 

I  had  so  long  been  too  stupid  to  discover  her  intentions,  and 
at  the  same  time  never  doubting  that  I  understood  them  per- 
fectly; and  also  that  she,  whom  I  had  taught  myself  to  be- 
lieve nobody  else  would  have,  had  actually  rejected  me  with 
all  my  fancied  greatness.  And,  to  cap  the  whole,  I  then  for 
the  first  time  began  to  suspect  that  I  was  really  a  little  in  love 
with  her.  But  let  it  all  go !  I'll  try  and  outlive  it.  Others 
have  been  made  fools  of  by  the  girls,  but  this  can  never  with 
truth  be  said  of  me.  I  most  emphatically,  in  this  instance, 
made  a  fool  of  myself.  I  have  now  come  to  the  conclusion 
never  again  to  think  of  marrying,  and  for  this  reason — I  can 
never  be  satisfied  with  any  one  who  would  be  blockhead 
enough  to  have  me." 

The  skill,  the  courage,  and  the  good-will  Lincoln  had 
shown  in  his  management  of  the  Ipill  for  the  removal  of  the 
capital  gave  him  at  once  a  position  in  Springfield.  The  entire 
"Long  Nine,"  indeed,  were  regarded  by  the  county  as  its 
benefactors,  and  throughout  the  summer  there  were  barbe- 
cues and  fireworks,  dinners  and  speeches  in  their  honor.  "The 
service  rendered  Old  Sangamon  by  the  present  delegation" 
was  a  continually  recurring  toast  at  every  gathering.  At  one 
"sumptuous  dinner"  the  internal  improvement  scheme  in  all 
its  phases  was  toasted  again  and  again  by  the  banqueters. 

The  Long  Nine'  of  Old  Sangamon — well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servants,"  drew  forth  long  applause.  Among  those 
who  offered  volunteer  toasts  at  this  dinner  were  "A.  Lincoln, 
Esq.,"  and  "S.  A.  Douglas,  Esq." 

At  a  dinner  at  Athens,  given  to  the  delegation,  eight  for- 
mal toasts  and  twenty-five  volunteers  are  quoted  in  the  re- 
port of  the  affair  in  the  "Sangamon  Journal."  Among  them 
were  the  following : 

A.  Lincoln.    He  has  fulfilled    the  expectations    of    his 
friends  and  disappointed  the  hopes  of  his  enemies. 
A.  Lincoln.   One  of  nature's  noblemen. 
By  A.  Lincoln.  Sanp-amon  County  will  ever  be  true  to  hei 


-s 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  155 

best  interests,  and  never  more  so  than  in  reciprocating  the 
good  feelings  of  the  citizens  of  Athens  and  neighborhood. 

Lincoln  had  not  been  long  in  Springfield  before  he  was 
able  to  support  himself  from  his  law  practice,  a  result  due,  no 
doubt,  very  largely  to  his  personal  qualities  and  to  his  repu- 
tation as  a  shrewd  politician.  Not  that  he  made  money.  The 
fee-book  of  Lincoln  and  Stuart  shows  that  the  returns  were 
modest  enough,  and  that  sometimes  they  even  "traded  out" 
their  account.  Nevertheless  it  was  a  satisfaction  to  earn  a 
livelihood  so  soon.  Of  his  peculiar  methods  as  a  lawyer  at 
this  date  we  know  very  little.  Most  of  his  cases  are  utterly 
uninteresting.  The  very  first  year  he  was  in  Springfield, 
however,  he  had  one  case  which  created  a  sensation,  and 
which  is  an  admirable  example  of  the  way  he  could  combine 
business  and  politics  as  well  as  of  his  merciless  persistency  in 
pursuing  a  man  whom  he  believed  unjust. 

It  seems  that  among  the  offices  to  be  filled  at  the  August 
election  of  1837  was  that  of  probate  justice  of  the  peace.  One 
of  the  candidates  was  General  James  Adams,  a  man  who  had 
come  on  from  the  East  in  the  early  twenties,  and  who  had  at 
first  claimed  to  be  a  lawyer.  He  had  been  an  aspirant  for 
various  offices,  among  them  that  of  governor  of  the  State, 
but  with  little  success.  A  few  days  before  the  August  elec- 
tion of  1837  an  anonymous  hand-bill  was  scattered  about  the 
streets.  It  was  an  attack  on  General  Adams,  charging  him 
with  having  acquired  the  title  to  a  ten-acre  lot  of  ground  near 
the  town  by  the  deliberate  forgery  of  the  name  of  Joseph  An- 
derson, of  Fulton  County,  Illinois,  to  an  assignment  of  a 
judgment.  Anderson  had  died,  and  his  widow,  going  to 
Springfield  to  dispose  of  the  land,  had  been  surprised  to  find 
that  it  was  claimed  by  General  Adams.  She  had  employed 
Stuart  and  Lincoln  to  look  into  the  matter.  The  hand-bill, 
which  went  into  all  of  the  details  at  great  length,  concluded 
as  follows:  "I  have  only  made  these  statements  because  I 


156  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

am  known  by  many  to  be  one  of  the  individuals  against 
whom  the  charge  of  forging  the  assignment  and  slipping  it 
into  the  general's  papers  has  been  made ;  and  because  our  si- 
lence might  be  construed  into  a  confession  of  the  truth.  I 
shall  not  subscribe  my  name ;  but  hereby  authorize  the  editor 
of  the  'Journal'  to  give  it  up  to  any  one  who  may  call  for  it." 

After  the  election,  at  which  General  Adams  was  successful, 
the  hand-bill  was  reproduced  in  the  "Sangamon  Journal," 
with  a  card  signed  by  the  editor,  in  which  he  said :  "To  save 
any  further  remarks  on  this  subject,  I  now  state  that  A.  Lin- 
coln, Esq.,  is  the  author  of  the  hand-bill  in  question."  The 
same  issue  of  the  paper  contained  a  lengthy  communication 
from  General  Adams,  denying  the  charge  of  fraud. 

The  controversy  was  continued  for  several  weeks  in  the 
newspapers,  General  Adams  often  filling  six  columns  of  a 
single  issue  of  the  "Springfield  Republican." 

He  charged  that  the  assault  upon  him  was  the  result  of  a 
conspiracy  between  "a  knot  of  lawyers,  doctors,  and  others," 
who  wished  to  ruin  his  reputation.  Lincoln's  answers  to 
Adams  are  most  emphatic.  In  one  case,  quoting  several  of 
his  assertions,  he  pronounced  them  "all  as  false  as  hell,  as 
all  this  community  must  know."  Adams's  replies  were  al- 
ways voluminous.  "Such  is  the  turn  which  things  have  lately 
taken,"  wrote  Lincoln,  "that  when  General  Adams  writes  a 
book  I  am  expected  to  write  a  commentary  on  it."  Replying 
to  Adams's  denunciation  of  the  lawyers,  he  said :  "He  at- 
tempted to  impose  himself  upon  the  community  as  a  lawyer, 
and  he  actually  carried  the  attempt  so  far  as  to  induce  a  man 
who  was  under  the  charge  of  murder  to  entrust  the  defence 
of  his  life  to  his  hands,  and  finally  took  his  money  and  got 
him  hanged.  Is  this  the  man  that  is  to  raise  a  breeze  in  his 
favor  by  abusing  lawyers  ?  .  .  .  If  he  'is  not  a  lawyer, 
he  is  a  liar;  for  he  proclaimed  himself  a  lawyer,  and  got  a 
.man  hanged  by  depending  on  him."  Lincoln  concluded: 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  157 

"Farewell,  General.  I  will  see  you  again  at  court,  if  not  be- 
fore— when  and  where  we  will  settle  the  question  whether 
you  or  the  widow  shall  have  the  land."  The  widow  did  get 
the  land,  but  this  was  not  the  worst  thing  that  happened  to 
Adams.  The  climax  was  reached  when  the  "Sangamon  Jour- 
nal" published  a  long  editorial  (written  by  Lincoln,  no 
doubt)  on  the  controversy,  and  followed  it  with  a  copy  of  an 
indictment  found  against  Adams  in  Oswego  County,  New 
York,  in  1818.  The  offence  charged  in  this  indictment  was 
the  forgery  of  a  deed  by  Adams — "a  person  of  evil  name  and 
fame  and  of  a  wicked  disposition." 

Lincoln's  victory  in  this  controversy  undoubtedly  did 
much  to  impress  the  community,  not  necessarily  that  he  was 
a  good  lawyer,  but  rather  that  he  was  a  clever  strategist  and 
a  fearless  enemy.  It  was  not,  in  fact,  as  a  lawyer  that  he  was 
prominent  in  the  first  years  after  he  came  to  Springfield.  It 
was  as  a  politician.  The  place  he  had  taken  among  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Whig  party  in  the  winter  of  1836  and  1837  he 
easily  kept.  The  qualities  which  he  had  shown  from  the  out- 
start  of  his  public  life  were  only  strengthened  as  he  gained 
experience  and  self-confidence.  He  was  the  terror  of  the  pre- 
tentious and  insincere,  and  had  a  way  of  exposing  their 
sharns  by  clever  tricks  which  were  unanswerable  arguments. 
Thus,  it  was  considered  necessary,  at  that  day,  by  a  candi- 
date to  prove  to  the  farmers  that  he  was  poor  and,  like  them- 
selves, horny-handed.  Those  politicians  who  wore  good 
clothes  and  dined  sumptuously  were  careful  to  conceal  their 
regard  for  the  elegancies  of  life  from  their  constituents. 
One  of  the  Democrats  who  in  this  period  took  particu- 
lar pains  to  decry  the  Whigs  for  their  wealth  and 
aristocratic  principles  was  Colonel  Dick  Taylor,  gen- 
erally known  in  Illinois  as  "rufifled-shirt  Taylor."  He 
was  a  vain  and  handsome  man,  who  habitually  ar- 
rayed himself  as  gorgeously  as  the  fashion  allowed 


158  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

One  day  when  he  and  Lincoln  had  met  in  debate  at  a  coun- 
tryside gathering,  Colonel  Dick  became  particularly  bitter 
in  his  condemnation  of  Whig  elegance.  Lincoln  listened  for 
a  time,  and  then,  slipping  near  the  speaker,  suddenly  caught 
his  coat,  which  was  buttoned  up  close,  and  tore  it  open.  A 
mass  of  ruffled  shirt,  a  gorgeous  velvet  vest,  and  a  great  gold 
chain  from  which  dangled  numerous  rings  and  seals,  were 
uncovered  to  the  crowd.  Lincoln  needed  to  make  no  further 
reply  that  day  to  the  charge  of  being  a  "rag  baron." 

Lincoln  loved  fair  play  as  he  hated  shams ;  and  through- 
out these  early  years  in  Springfield  boldly  insisted  that 
friend  and  enemy  have  the  chance  due  them.  A  dram- 
atic case  of  this  kind  occurred  at  a  political  meeting 
held  one  evening  in  the  Springfield  court-room,  which  at 
that  date  was  temporarily  in  a  hall  under  Stuart  and  Lin- 
coln's law  ofHce.  Directly  over  the  platform  was  a  trap-door. 
Lincoln  frequently  would  lie  by  this  opening  during  a  meet- 
ing, listening  to  the  speeches.  One  evening  one  of  his 
friends,  E.  D.  Baker,  in  speaking  angered  the  crowd,  and  an 
attempt  was  made  to  "pull  him  down."  Before  the  assailants 
could  reach  the  platform,  however,  a  pair  of  long  legs 
dangled  from  the  trap-door,  and  in  an  instant  Lincoln 
dropped  down  beside  Baker,  crying  out,  "Hold  on,  gentle- 
men, this  is  a  land  of  free  speech."  His  appearance  was  so 
unexpected,  and  his  attitude  so  determined,  that  the  crowd 
soon  was  quiet,  and  Baker  went  on  with  his  speech. 

Lincoln  did  not  take  a  prominent  place  in  his  party 
because  the  Whigs  lacked  material.  He  had  powerful 
rivals.  Edward  Dickinson  Baker,  Colonel  John  J.  Har- 
din,  John  T.  Stuart,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  Jesse  K. 
Dubois,  O.  H.  Browning,  were  but  a  few  of  the  brilliant 
men  who  were  throwing  all  their  ability  and  ambition  into 
the  contest  for  political  honors  in  the  State.  Nor  were  the 
Whigs  a  whit  superior  to  the  Democrats.  William  L.  D.  Ew- 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  159 

ing,  Ebenezer  Peck,  William  Thomas,  James  Shields,  John 
Calhoun,  were  in  every  respect  as  able  as  the  best  men  of  the 
Whig  party.  Indeed,  one  of  the  prominent  Democrats  with 
whom  Lincoln  came  often  in  contact,  was  popularly  regarded 
as  the  most  brilliant  and  promising  politician  of  the  State — 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  His  record  had  been  phenomenal.  He 
had  amazed  both  parties,  in  1834,  by  securing  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  legislature  to  the  office  of  State  Attorney  for  the 
first  judicial  circuit,  over  John  J.  Hardin.  In  1836  he  had 
been  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  although  he  was  at  that 
time  but  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  had  shown  himself  one 
of  the  most  vigorous,  capable,  and  intelligent  members.  In- 
deed, Douglas's  work  in  the  Tenth  Assembly  gave  him  about 
the  same  position  in  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State  at 
large  that  Lincoln's  work  in  the  same  body  gave  him  in  the 
Whig  party  of  his  own  district.  In  1837  he  had  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  being  appointed  register  of  the  land  office,  a  position 
which  compelled  him  to  make  his  home  in  Springfield.  It 
was  only  a  few  months  after  Lincoln  rode  into  town,  all  his 
earthly  possessions  in  a  pair  of  saddle-bags,  that  Douglas  ap- 
peared. Handsome,  polished,  and  always  with  an  air  of  pros- 
perity, the  advent  of  the  young  Democratic  official  was  in 
striking  contrast  to  that  of  the  sad-eyed,  ill-clad,  poverty- 
stricken  young  lawyer  from  New  Salem. 

From  the  first,  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  thrown  con- 
stantly together  in  the  social  life  of  the  town,  and  often 
pitted  against  each  other  in  what  were  the  real  forums  of  the 
State  at  that  day — the  space  around  the  huge  "Franklin" 
stove  of  some  obliging  store-keeper,  the  steps  of  somebody's 
law  office,  a  pile  of  lumber,  or  a  long  timber,  lying  in  the  pub- 
lic square,  where  the  new  State-house  was  going  up. 

In  the  fall  of  1837  Douglas  was  nominated  for  Congress 
on  the  Democratic  ticket.  His  Whig  opponent  was  Lincoln's 
law  partner,  John  T.  Stuart.  The  campaign  which  the  two 


100  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

conducted  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  history  of 
the  State.  For  five  months  of  the  spring  and  summer  of  1838 
they  rode  together  from  town  to  town  all  over  the  northern 
part  of  Illinois  (Illinois  at  that  time  was  divided  into  but 
three  congressional  districts ;  the  third,  in  which  Sangamon 
county  was  included,  being  made  up  of  the  twenty-two  north- 
ernmost counties) ,  speaking  six  days  out  of  seven.  When  the 
election  came  off  in  August,  1838,  out  of  thirty-six  thousand 
votes  cast,  Stuart  received  a  majority  of  only  fourteen;  but 
even  that  majority  the  Democrats  always  contended  was  won 
unfairly. 

The  campaign  was  watched  with  intense  interest  by  the 
young  politicians  of  Springfield;  no  one  of  them  felt  a 
deeper  interest  in  it  than  Lincoln,  who  was  himself  a  candi- 
date for  the  State  legislature,  and  who  was  spending  a  great 
deal  of  his  time  in  electioneering. 

As  the  campaign  of  1840  approached  Lincoln  was  more 
and  more  frequently  pitted  against  Douglas.  He  had  by  this 
time  no  doubt  learned  something  of  the  power  of  the  "Little 
Giant,"  as  Douglas  was  already  called.  Certainly  no  man  in 
public  life  between  1837  and  1860  had  a  greater  hold  on  his 
followers.  The  reasons  for  this  grasp  are  not  hard  to  find. 
Douglas  was  by  nature  buoyant,  enthusiastic,  impetuous.  He 
had  that  sunny  boyishness  which  is  so  irresistible  to  young 
and  old.  With  it  he  had  great  natural  eloquence.  When  his 
deep,  rich  voice  rolled  out  fervid  periods  in  support  of  the 
sub-treasury  and  the  convention  system,  or  in  opposition  to 
internal  improvements  by  the  federal  government,  the  people 
applauded  out  of  sheer  joy  at  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him. 
He  was  one  of  the  few  men  in  Illinois  whom  the  epithet  of 
"Yankee"  never  hurt.  He  might  be  a  Yankee,  but  when  he 
sat  down  on  the  knee  of  some  surly  lawyer,  and  confidentially 
told  him  his  plans ;  or,  at  a  political  meeting,  took  off  his  coat, 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  161 

and  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  and  "pitched  into"  his  opponent, 
the  sons  of  Illinois  forgot  his  origin  in  love  for  the  man. 

Lincoln  undoubtedly  understood  the  charm  of  Douglas, 
and  realized  his  power.  But  he  already  had  an  insight  into 
one  of  his  political  characteristics  that  few  people  recognized 
at  that  day.  In  writing  to  Stuart  in  1839,  while  the  latter 
wa,s  attending  Congress,  Lincoln  said:  "Douglas  has  not 
been  here  since  you  left.  A  report  is  in  circulation  here  now 
thai  he  has  abandoned  the  idea  of  going  to  Washington, 
though  the  report  does  not  come  in  a  very  authentic  form,  so 
far  as  I  can  learn.  Though,  by  the  way,  speaking  of  authen- 
ticity, you  know  that  if  we  had  heard  Douglas  say  that  he 
had  abandoned  the  contest,  it  would  not  be  very  authentic/' 

At  that  time  the  local  issues,  which  had  formerly  engaged 
Illinois  candidates  almost  entirely,  were  lost  sight  of  in  na- 
tional questions.  In  Springfield,  where  the  leaders  of  both 
parties  were  living,  many  hot  debates  were  held  in 
private.  Out  of  these  grew,  in  December,  1839,  a  series  of 
public  discussions,  extending  over  eight  evenings,  and  in 
which  several  of  the  first  orators  of  the  State  took  part. 
Lincoln  was  the  last  man  on  the  list.  The  people  were  nearly 
worn  out  before  his  turn  came,  and  his  audience  was  small. 
He  began  his  speech  with  some  melancholy,  self-deprecatory 
reflections,  complaining  that  the  small  audience  cast  a  damp 
upon  his  spirits  which  he  was  sure  he  would  be  unable  to 
overcome  during  the  evening.  He  did  better  than  he  ex- 
pected, overcoming  the  damp  on  his  spirits  so  effectually  that 
he  made  what  was  regarded  as  the  best  speech  of  the  series. 
By  a  general  request,  it  was  printed  for  distribution.  The 
speech  is  peculiarly  interesting  from  the  fact  that  while  there 
is  a  little  of  the  perfervid  eloquence  of  1840  in  it,  as  well  as 
a  good  deal  of  the  rather  boisterous  humor  of  the  time,  a  part 
o£  ft.  is  devoted  to  a  careful  examination  of  the  statements  of 


1 62  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

his  opponents,  and  a  refutation  of  them  by  means  of  public 
documents. 

As  a  good  Democrat  was  expected  to  do,  Douglas  had  ex- 
plained with  plausibility  why  the  Van  Buren  administration 
had  in  1838  spent  $40,000,000.  Lincoln  takes  up  his  state- 
ments one  by  one,  and  proves,  as  he  says,  that  "the  majority 
of  them  are  wholly  untrue."  Douglas  had  attributed  a  part 
of  the  expenditures  to  the  purchase  of  public  lands  from  the 
Indians. 

"Now  it  happens,"  said  Lincoln,  "that  no  such  purchase 
was  made  during  that  year.  It  is  true  that  some  money 
was  paid  that  year  in  pursuance  of  Indian  treaties;  but  no 
more,  or  rather  not  as  much  as  had  been  paid  on  the  same 

account  in  each  of  several  preceding  years Again, 

Mr.  Douglas  says  that  the  removal  of  the  Indians  to  the 
country  west  of  the  Mississippi  created  much  of  the  expendi- 
ture of  1838.  I  have  examined  the  public  documents  in  rela- 
tion to  this  matter,  and  find  that  less  was  paid  for  the  re- 
moval of  Indians  in  that  than  in  some  former  years.  The 
whole  sum  expended  on  that  account  in  that  year  did  not 
much  exceed  one  quarter  of  a  million.  For  this  small  sum, 
although  we  do  not  think  the  administration  entitled  to 
credit,  because  large  sums  have  been  expended  in  the  same 
way  in  former  years,  we  consent  it  may  take  one  and  make 
the  most  of  it. 

"Next,  Mr.  Douglas  says  that  five  millions  of  the  expendi- 
tures of  1838  consisted  of  the  payment  of  the  French  in- 
demnity money  to  its  individual  claimants.  I  have  carefully 
examined  the  public  documents,  and  thereby  find  this  state- 
ment to  be  wholly  untrue.  Of  the  forty  millions  of  dollars 
expended  in  1838, 1  am  enabled  to  say  positively  that  not  one 
dollar  consisted  of  payments  on  the  French  indemnities.  So 
much  for  that  excuse. 

"Next  comes  the  Post-office.  He  says  that  five  millions 
were  expended  during  that  year  to  sustain  that  department. 
By  a  like  examination  of  public  documents,  I  find  this  also 
wholly  untrue.  Of  the  so  often  mentioned  forty  millions,  not 
one  dollar  went  to  the  Post-office.  , 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  163 

"I  return  to  another  of  Mr.  Douglas's  excuses  for  the  ex- 
penditures of  1838,  at  the  same  time  announcing  the  pleas- 
ing intelligence  that  this  is  the  last  one.  He  says  that  ten  mil- 
lions of  that  year's  expenditure  was  a  contingent  appropria- 
tion, to  prosecute  an  anticipated  war  with  Great  Britain  on 
the  Maine  boundary  question.  Few  words  will  settle  this. 
First,  that  the  ten  millions  appropriated  was  not  made  till 
1839,  and  consequently  could  not  have  been  expended  in 
1838 ;  second,  although  it  was  appropriated,  it  has  never  been 
expended  at  all.  Those  who  heard  Mr.  Douglas  recollect 
that  he  indulged  himself  in  a  contemptuous  expression  of 
pity  for  me.  'Now  he's  got  me/  thought  I.  But  when  he 
went  on  to  say  that  five  millions  of  the  expenditure  of  1838 
were  payments  of  the  French  indemnities,  which  I  knew  to 
be  untrue;  that  five  millions  had  been  for  the  Post-office, 
which  I  knew  to  be  untrue ;  that  ten  millions  had  been  for  the 
Maine  boundary  war,  which  I  not  only  knew  to  be  untrue, 
but  supremely  ridiculous  also ;  and  when  I  saw  that  he  was 
stupid  enough  to  hope  that  I  would  permit  such  groundless 
and  audacious  assertions  to  go  unexposed, — I  readily  con- 
sented that,  on  the  score  both  of  veracity  and  sagacity,  the 
audience  should  judge  whether  he  or  I  were  the  more  de- 
serving of  the  world's  contempt." 

These  citations  show  that  Lincoln  had  already  learned  to 
handle  public  documents,  and  to  depend  for  at  least  a  part  of 
his  success  with  an  audience  upon  a  careful  statement  of 
facts.  The  methods  used  in  at  least  a  portion  of  this  speech 
are  exactly  those  which  made  the  irresistible  strength  of  his 
speeches  in  1858,  1859,  and  1860. 

But  there  was  little  of  as  good  work  done  in  the  campaign 
of  1840,  by  Lincoln  or  anybody  else,  as  is  found  in  this 
speech.  It  was  a  campaign  of  fun  and  noise,  and  nowhere 
more  so  than  in  Illinois.  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  five  Whig 
Presidential  electors,  and  he  flung  himself  into  the  campaign 
with  confidence.  "The  nomination  of  Harrison  takes  first 
rate/'  he  wrote  to  his  partner  Stuart,  then  in  Washington. 
"You  know  I  am  never  sanguine,  but  I  believe  we  will  carry 


1 64  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  State.  The  chance  of  doing  so  appears  to  me  twenty-five 
per  cent,  better  than  it  did  for  you  to  beat  Douglas."  The 
Whigs,  in  spite  of  their  dislike  of  the  convention  system,  or- 
ganized as  they  never  had  before,  and  even  sent  out  a  "confi- 
dential" circular  of  which  Lincoln  was  the  author. 

This  circular  provided  for  a  remarkably  complete  organi- 
zation of  the  State,  as  the  following  extracts  will  show : 

After  due  deliberation,  the  following  is  the  plan  of  or- 
ganization, and  the  duties  required  of  each  county  commit- 
tee: 

1 I )  To  divide  their  county  into  small  districts,  and  to  ap- 
point in  each  a  subcommittee,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  make 
a  perfect  list  of  all  the  voters  in  their  respective  districts,  and 
to  ascertain  with  certainty  for  whom  they  will  vote.   If  they 
meet  with  men  who  are  doubtful  as  to  the  man  they  will  sup- 
port, such  voters  should  be  designated  in  separate  lines,  with 
the  name  of  the  man  they  will  probably  support. 

(2)  It  will  be  the  duty  of  said  subcommittee  to  keep  a 
constant  watch  on  the  doubtful  voters,  and  from  time  to  time 
have  them  talked  to  by  those  in  whom  they  have  the  most 
confidence,  and  also  to  place  in  their  hands  such  documents 
as  will  enlighten  and  influence  them. 

(5)  On  the  first  of  each  month  hereafter  we  shall  expect 
to  hear  from  you.     After  the  first  report  of  your  subcommit- 
tees, unless  there  should  be  found  a  great  many  doubtful 
voters,  you  can  tell  pretty  accurately  the  manner  in  which 
your  county  will  vote.  In  each  of  your  letters  to  us,  you  will 
state  the  number  of  certain  votes  both  for  and  against  us,  as 
well  as  the  number  of  doubtful  votes,  with  your  opinion  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  will  be  cast. 

(6)  When  we  have  heard  from  all  the  counties,  we  shall 
be  able  to  tell  with  similar  accuracy  the  political  complexion 
of  the  State.   This  information  will  be  forwarded  to  you  as 
soon  as  received. 

Every  weapon  Lincoln  thought  of  possible  use  in  the  con- 
test he  secured.   "Be  sure  to  send  me  as  many  copies  of  the 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  165 

'Life  of  Harrison'  as  you  can  spare  from  other  uses,"  he 
wrote  Stuart.  "Be  very  sure  to  procure  and  send  me  the 
'Senate  Journal'  of  New  York,  of  September,  1814.  I  have  a 
newspaper  article  which  says  that  that  document  proves  that 
Van  Buren  voted  against  raising  troops  in  the  last  war. 
And,  in  general,  send  me  everything  you  think  will  be  a  good 
'war-club.'  " 

Every  sign  of  success  he  quoted  to  Stuart;  the  number  of 
subscribers  to  the  "Old  Soldier,"  a  campaign  newspaper 
which  the  Whig  committee  had  informed  the  Whigs  of  the 
State  that  they  ''must  take;"  the  names  of  Van  Buren  men 
who.  were  weakening,  and  to  whom  he  wanted  Stuart  to  send 
documents;  the  name  of  every  theretofore  doubtful  person 
who  had  declared  himself  for  Harrison.  "Japh  Bell  has  come 
out  for  Harrison,"  he  put  in  a  postscript  to  one  letter;  "ain't 
that  a  caution  ?" 

The  monster  political  meetings  held  throughout  the  State 
did  much  to  widen  Lincoln's  reputation,  particularly  one  held 
in  June  in  Springfield.  Twenty  thousand  people  attended  this 
meeting,  delegations  coming  from  every  direction.  It  took 
fourteen  teams  to  haul  the  delegation  from  Chicago,  and  they 
were  three  weeks  on  their  journey.  Each  party  carried  some 
huge  symbolic  piece — the  log  cabin  being  the  favorite.  One 
of  the  cabins  taken  to  Springfield  was  drawn  by  thirty  yokes 
of  oxen.  In  a  hickory  tree  which  was  planted  beside  this 
cabin,  coons  were  seen  playing,  and  a  barrel  of  hard  cider 
stood  by  the  door,  continually  on  tap.  Instead  of  a  log  cabin, 
the  Chicago  delegation  dragged  across  country  a  govern- 
ment yawl  rigged  up  as  a  two-masted  ship,  with  a  band  of 
music  and  a  six-pounder  cannon  on  board. 

There  are  many  reminiscences  of  this  great  celebration, 
and  Lincoln's  part  in  it,  still  afloat  in  Illinois.  General  T..  J. 
Henderson  writes,  in  his  entertaining  reminiscences  of  Lin- 
coln: 


1 66  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"The  first  time  I  remember  to  have  seen  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  during  the  memorable  campaign  of  1840,  when  I  was  a 
boy  fifteen  years  of  age.  It  was  at  an  immense  Whig  mass- 
meeting  held  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  in  the  month  of  June  of 
that  year.  The  Whigs  attended  this  meeting  from  all  parts  of 
the  State  in  large  numbers,  and  it  was  estimated  that  from 
forty  to  fifty  thousand  people  were  present.  They  came  in 
carriages  and  wagons,  on  horseback  and  on  foot.  They  came 
with  log  cabins  drawn  on  wheels  by  oxen,  and  with  coons, 
coon-skins,  and  hard  cider.  They  came  with  music  and  ban- 
ners; and  thousands  of  them  came  from  long  distances.  It 
was  the  first  political  meeting  I  had  ever  attended,  and  it 
made  a  very  strong  impression  upon  my  youthful  mind. 

"My  father,  William  H.  Henderson,  then  a  resident  of 
Stark  county,  Illinois,  was  an  ardent  Whig;  and  having 
served  under  General  William  Henry  Harrison,  the  then 
Whig  candidate  for  President,  in  the  war  of  1812-1815,  he 
felt  a  deep  interest  in  his  election.  And  although  he  lived 
about  a  hundred  miles  from  Springfield,  he  went  with  a  dele- 
gation from  Stark  county  to  this  political  meeting,  and  took 
me  along  with  him.  I  remember  that  at  this  great  meeting  of 
the  supporters  of  Harrison  and  Tyler  there  were  a  number  of 
able  and  distinguished  speakers  of  the  Whig  party  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  present.  Among  them  were  Colonel  E.  D. 
Baker,  who  was  killed  at  Ball's  Bluff,  on  the  Potomac,  in  the 
late  war,  and  who  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  speakers  in 
the  State ;  Colonel  John  J.  Hardin,  who  was  killed  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Buena  Vista,  in  the  Mexican  war ;  Fletcher  Webster,  a 
son  of  Daniel  Webster,  who  was  killed  in  the  late  war;  S. 
Leslie  Smith,  a  brilliant  orator  of  Chicago ;  Rev.  John  Ho- 
gan,  Ben  Bond,  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  heard  all  of  these 
men  speak  on  that  occasion.  And  while  I  was  too  young  to 
be  a  judge  of  their  speeches,  yet  I  thought  them  all  to  be 
great  men,  and  none  of  them  greater  than  Abraham  Lin- 
coln." 

The  late  Judge  Scott  of  Illinois  says  of  Lincoln's  speech 
at  that  gathering,  in  an  unpublished  paper  "Lincoln  on  the 
Stump  and  at  the  Bar" : 

"Mr.  Lincoln  stood  in  a  wagon,  from  whkh  he  addressed 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  167 

the  mass  of  people  that  surrounded  it.  The  meeting  was  one 
of  unusual  interest  because  of  him  who  was  to  make  the  prin- 
cipal address.  It  was  at  the  time  of  his  greatest  physical 
strength.  He  was  tall,  and  perhaps  a  little  more  slender  than 
in  later  life,  and  more  homely  than  after  he  became  stouter  in 
person.  He  was  then  only  thirty-one  years  of  age,  and  yet 
he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Whig  speakers  in 
that  campaign.  There  was  that  in  him  that  attracted  and 
held  public  attention.  Even  then  he  was  the  subject  of  popu- 
lar regard  because  of  his  candid  and  simple  mode  of  discuss- 
ing and  illustrating  political  questions.  At  times  he  was  in- 
tensely logical,  and  was  always  most  convincing  in  his  argu- 
ments. The  questions  involved  in  that  canvass  had  relation 
to  the  tariff,  internal  public  improvements  by  the  federal  gov- 
ernment, the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  pub- 
lic lands  among  the  several  States,  and  other  questions  that 
divided  the  political  parties  of  that  day.  They  were  not  such 
questions  as  enlisted  and  engaged  his  best  thoughts ;  they  did 
not  take  hold  of  his  great  nature,  and  had  no  tendency  to  de- 
velop it.  At  times  he  discussed  the  questions  of  the  time  in  a 
logical  way,  but  much  time  was  devoted  to  telling  stories  to 
illustrate  some  phase  of  his  argument,  though  more  often  the 
telling  of  these  stories  was  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of 
rendering  his  opponents  ridiculous.  That  was  a  style  of 
speaking  much  appreciated  at  that  early  day.  In  that  kind  of 
oratory  he  excelled  most  of  his  contemporaries — indeed,  he 
had  no  equal  in  the  State.  One  story  he  told  on  that  occa- 
sion was  full  of  salient  points,  and  well  illustrated  the  argu- 
ment he  was  making.  It  was  not  an  impure  story,  yet  it  was 
not  one  it  would  be  seemly  to  publish;  but  rendered,  as  it 
was,  in  his  inimitable  way,  it  contained  nothing  that  was  of- 
fensive to  a  refined  taste.  The  same  story  might  have  been 
told  by  another  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  probably  have 
been  regarded  as  transcending  the  proprieties  of  popular  ad- 
dress. One  characterizing  feature  of  all  the  stories  told  by 
Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  stump  and  elsewhere,  was  that  although 
the  subject  matter  of  some  of  them  might  not  have  been  en- 
tirely unobjectionable,  yet  the  manner  of  telling  them  was  so 
peculiarly  his  own  that  they  gave  no  offence  even  to  refined 
and  cultured  people.  On  the  contrary^  they  were  much  en- 


1 68  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

joyed.  The  story  he  told  on  this  occasion  was  much  liked  by 
the  vast  assembly  that  surrounded  the  temporary  platform 
from  which  he  spoke,  and  was  received  with  loud  bursts  of 
laughter  and  applause.  It  served  to  place  the  opposing  party 
and  its  speakers  in  a  most  ludicrous  position  in  respect  to  the 
question  being  considered,  and  gave  him  a  most  favorable 
hearing  for  the  arguments  he  later  made  in  support  of  the 
measures  he  was  sustaining." 

Although  so  active  as  a  Whig  politician  Lincoln  was 
not  prominent  at  this  period  as  a  legislator.  Few  bills 
originated  with  him.  Among  these  few  one  of  interest  is  the 
Illinois  law  requiring  the  examination  of  school  teachers  as 
to  their  qualifications,  and  providing  for  the  granting  of  offi- 
cial certificates  of  authority  to  teach.  In  the  pioneer  days, 
any  person  whom  circumstances  forced  into  the  business  was 
permitted  to  teach.  On  December  2,  1840,  Lincoln  offered 
the  following  resolution  in  the  Illinois  House  of  Representa- 
tives : 

"Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  education  be  instructed 
to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  providing  by  law  for  the 
examination  as  to  the  qualification  of  persons  offering  them- 
selves as  school  teachers,  that  no  teacher  shall  receive  any 
part  of  the  public  school  fund  who  shall  not  have  success- 
fully passed  such  examination,  and  that  they  report  by  bill 
or  otherwise." 

A  motion  to  table  this  resolution  was  defeated.  Within 
the  ensuing  three  months  the  legislature  passed  "an  act  mak- 
ing provision  for  organizing  and  maintaining  common 
schools" — the  act  which  was  the  foundation  of  the  common 
school  system  of  Illinois.  Section  81  of  this  act,  providing 
for  the  qualification  of  teachers  embodied  Lincoln's  idea. 
This  section  made  it  the  duty  of  the  school  trustees  in  every 
township  "to  examine  any  person  proposing  to  teach  school 
in  their  vicinity  in  relation  to  the  qualifications  of  such  per- 
son as  a  teacher*"  or  they  might  appoint  a  board  of  commis- 


BEGINS  TO  STUDY  LAW  169 

sioners  to  conduct  the  examination ;  and  a  certificate  of  quali- 
fication was  to  be  issued  by  a  majority  of  the  trustees  or  com- 
missioners. Since  then,  of  course,  all  the  States  have  passed 
laws  providing  for  the  examination  of  teachers.  In  Illinois, 
no  material  change  has  been  made  in  Lincoln's  plan  (for  this 
section  of  the  law  was  very  likely  drawn  by  Lincoln),  ex- 
cept that  the  power  of  examination  has  been  transferred 
from  the  trustees  or  commissioners  to  the  county  superin- 
tendent of  schools  an  office  then  unknown. 


— S.  'I1.  LOGAN  &  E.  D.  BAKER, 

ATTORNEYS  AND  COUNSELLORS  AT  LAVVV 

WIJLL  practice,  in  conjunction,  in  tb«iGir- 
Courts  of  this  Judicial  District,  an*  n  the  Circuit 
Courts  of  the  equities  of  Pike,  Schuyicr  and  Peoria* 

Springfield,  march,  1837. "'*    ^ 

1.  T.  STUART  AND  A.  JLIJNCOLN. 


.  .  , 

ATTORtfE  yS  and  Counsellors  at  Law,  will  pracUce, 
conjointly,  in  the  Courts  of  this  Judicial  Circuit.-^ 
Office  No.  4  Hoffman's  R«w,'up  stairs. 

Springfield,  april  12,  1837.  _  *  _  . 
npHE  paiUiership  heretofore  existing  b«tw.con  ibo  unj 
JL  derstgned,  lias  been  dissolved  bv  mutual  consent.—* 
TheTjttsiness  will.bc.found  in  the  hands  of  John  T.  Stuart. 

21837.    84       HENRY  'E.  PUMMER.  _. 


AgriU 


STUART  AND  LINCOLN'S  PROFESSIONAL  CARD. 


CHAPTER  XI 
LINCOLN'S  ENGAGEMENT  TO  MARY  TODD — BREAKING  OF  THE 

ENGAGEMENT LINCOLN-SHIELDS  DUEL 

BUSY  as  Lincoln  was  with  law  and  politics  the  first  three 
years  after  he  reached  Springfield,  he  did  not  by  any  means 
fail  to  identify  himself  with  the  interests  of  the  town  and  of 
its  people.  In  all  the  intellectual  life  of  the  place  he  took  his 
part.  In  the  fall  of  1837  with  a  few  of  the  leading  young 
men  he  formed  a  young  men's  lyceum.  One  of  the  very 
few  of  his  early  speeches  which  has  been  preserved  was  de- 
livered before  this  body,  its  subject  being  the  Perpetuation 
of  our  Political  Institutions.  At  the  request  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Lyceum  this  address  was  published  in  the  "San- 
gamon  Journal"  for  February  3,  1838. 

The  most  pleasing  feature  of  his  early  life  in  the  town  was 
the  way  in  which  he  attracted  all  classes  of  people  to  him.  He 
naturally,  from  his  political  importance  and  from  his  relation 
to  Mr.  Stuart,  was  admitted  to  the  best  society.  But  Lincoln 
was  not  received  there  from  tolerance  of  his  position  only. 
The  few  members  left  of  that  interesting  circle  of  Springfield 
in  the  thirties  are  emphatic  in  their  statements  that  he  was 
recognized  as  a  valuable  social  factor.  If  indifferent  to  forms 
and  little  accustomed  to  conventional  usages,  he  had  a  native 
dignity  and  self-respect  which  stamped  him  at  once  as  a  su- 
perior man.  He  had  a  good  will,  an  easy  adaptability  to  peo- 
ple, which  made  him  take  a  hand  in  everything  that  went  on. 
His  name  appears  in  every  list  of  banqueters  and  merry- 
makers reported  in  the  Springfield  papers.  He  even  served 
as  committeeman  for  cotillion  parties-  "  We  liked  Lincoln 

170 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT 


though  he  was  not  gay,"  said  one  charming  and  cultivated 
old  lady  to  me  in  Springfield.  "He  rarely  danced,  he  was 
never  very  attentive  to  ladies,  but  he  was  always  a  welcome 
guest  everywhere,  and  the  centre  of  a  circle  of  animated 


f  7  e 
December  !6fA,  1839 


N.   N.   RIDCCLY, 

j.  r.  SPEED, 

J.  A.   M'CteHMANO. 

J.    SHIELDS. 

R.  ALLEN. 

C.  0.  TAYLOR* 

M.    H.   WASH, 

C.  H.  KERRYHAM 

?.    w.   TO&D. 

N.    C.    WHITCSIDt. 

O.  A.  DOUGLAS). 

M.  CASTHAH. 

W.  3.  TftCKTICC. 

4.    «.     DILUtR. 

N.  W.  EDWARDS. 

A.  LINCOLN, 

OF  INVITATION  TO  A  SPRINGFIELD  OOTHiLION  PARTY. 
From  the  collection  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Gunther,  Chicago. 

talkers.  Indeed,  I  think  the  only  thing  we  girls  had  against 
Lincoln  was  that  he  always  attracted  all  the  men  around 
him." 

Lincoln's  kindly  interest  and  perfectly  democratic  feeling 
attached  to  him  many  people  whom  he  never  met  save  on  the 


1 72  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

streets.  Indeed  his  life  in  the  streets  of  Springfield  is  a  most 
touching  and  delightful  study.  He  concerned  himself  in  the 
progress  of  every  building  which  was  put  up,  of  every  new 
street  which  was  opened;  he  passed  nobody  without  recog- 
nition ;  he  seemed  always  to  have  time  to  stop  and  talk.  He 
became,  in  fact,  part  of  Springfield  street  life,  just  as  he  did 
of  the  town's  politics  and  society. 

In  1840  Lincoln  became  engaged  to  be  married  to  one  of 
the  favorite  young  women  of  Springfield,  Miss  Mary  Todd, 
the  sister-in-law  of  one  of  his  political  friends,  a  member  of 
the  "Long  Nine"  and  a  prominent  citizen,  Ninian  W.  Ed- 
wards. 

Miss  Todd  came  from  a  well-known  family  of  Lexington, 
Kentucky;  her  father,  Robert  S.  Todd,  being  one  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  his  State.  She  had  come  to  Springfield 
in  1839  to  live  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Edwards.  She  was  a 
brilliant,  witty,  highly-educated  girl,  ambitious  and  spirited, 
with  a  touch  of  audacity  which  only  made  her  more  attrac- 
tive, and  she  at  once  took  a  leading  position  in  Springfield 
society.  There  were  many  young  unmarried  men  in  the 
town,  drawn  there  by  politics,  and  Mr.  Edwards's  handsome 
home  was  opened  to  them  in  the  hospitable  Southern  way. 
After  Mary  Todd  became  an  inmate  of  the  Edwards  house, 
the  place  was  gayer  than  ever.  She  received  much  attention 
from  Douglas,  Shields,  Lincoln,  and  several  others.  It  was 
soon  apparent,  however,  that  Miss  Todd  preferred  Lincoln. 
As  the  intimacy  between  them  increased,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ed- 
wards protested.  However  honorable  and  able  a  man  Lin- 
coln might  be,  he  was  still  a  "plebeian."  His  family  were 
humble  and  poor;  he  was  self-educated,  without  address  or 
polish,  careless  of  forms,  indifferent  to  society.  How  could 
Mary  Todd,  brought  up  in  a  cultured  home,  accustomed  to 
the  refinements  of  life,  ambitious  for  social  position,  accom- 
modate herself  to  so  grave  a  nature,  so  dull  an  exterior? 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  I?3 

Miss  Todd  knew  her  own  mind,  however.  She  loved  Lin- 
coln, and  seems  to  have  believed  from  the  first  in  his  future. 
Some  time  in  1840  they  became  engaged. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  there  came  the  clashing  in- 
evitable between  two  persons  whose  tastes  and  ambitions 
were  so  different.  Miss  Todd  was  jealous  and  exacting; 
Lincoln  thoughtless  and  inattentive.  He  frequently  failed 
to  accompany  her  to  the  merry-makings  which  she  wanted 
to  attend  and  she,  naturally  enough,  resented  his  neglect 
interpreting  it  as  a  purposed  slight.  Sometimes  in  revenge 
she  went  with  Mr.  Douglas  or  some  other  escort  who  of- 
fered. Reproaches  and  tears  and  misunderstandings  fol- 
lowed. If  the  lovers  made  up,  it  was  only  to  fall  out  again. 
At  last  Lincoln  became  convinced  that  they  were  incompati- 
ble, and  resolved  that  he  must  break  the  engagement.  But 
the  knowledge  that  the  girl  loved  him  took  away  his  cour- 
age. He  felt  that  he  must  not  draw  back,  and  he  became  pro- 
foundly miserable. 

1  'Whatever  woman  may  cast  her  lot  with  mine,  should  any 
ever  dc  so,  it  is  my  intention  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  make 
her  happy  and  contented ;  and  there  is  nothing  I  can  imagine 
that  would  make  me  more  unhappy  than  to  fail  in  the  ef- 
fort," Lincoln  had  written  Miss  Owens  three  years  before. 
How  could  he  make  this  brilliant,  passionate  creature  to 
whom  he  was  betrothed  happy? 

A  mortal  dread  of  the  result  of  the  marriage,  a  harrow- 
ing doubt  of  his  own  feelings,  possessed  him.  The  experience 
is  not  so  rare  in  the  history  of  lovers  that  it  should  be  re- 
garded, as  it  often  has  been,  as  something  exceptional  and 
abnormal  in  Lincoln's  case.  A  reflective  nature  founded  in 
melancholy,  like  Lincoln's,  rarely  undertakes  even  the  sim- 
pler affairs  of  life  without  misgivings.  He  certainly  experi- 
enced dread  and  doubt  before  entering  on  any  new  relation. 
When  it  came  to  forming  the  most  delicate  and  intimate  of 


174  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

all  human  relations,  he  staggered  under  a  burden  of  uncer- 
tainty and  suffering  and  finally  broke  the  engagement. 

So  horrible  a  breach  of  honor  did  this  seem  to  him  that 
he  called  the  day  when  it  occurred  the  ' 'fatal  first  of  January, 
1841,"  and  months  afterward  he  wrote  to  his  intimate  friend 
Speed :  "I  must  regain  my  confidence  in  my  own  ability  to 
keep  my  resolves  when  they  are  made.  In  that  ability  I  once 
prided  myself  as  the  only  or  chief  gem  of  my  character ;  that 
gem  I  lost — how  and  where  you  know  too  well.  I  have  not 
yet  regained  it,  and,  until  I  do,  I  cannot  trust  myself  in  any 
matter  of  much  importance." 

The  breaking  of  the  engagement  between  Miss  Todd  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  known  at  the  time  to  all  their  friends.  Lin- 
coln's melancholy  was  evident  to  them  all,  nor  did  he,  in- 
deed, attempt  to  disguise  it.  He  wrote  and  spoke  freely  to 
his  intimates  pf  the  despair  which  possessed  him,  and  of  his 
sense  of  dishonor.  The  episode  caused  a  great  amount  of 
gossip,  as  was  to  be  expected.  After  Mr.  Lincoln's  assassi- 
nation and  Mrs.  Lincoln's  sad  death,  various  accounts  of 
the  courtship  and  marriage  were  circulated.  It  remained, 
however,  for  one  of  Lincoln's  law  partners,  Mr.  W.  H. 
Herndon,  to  develop  and  circulate  the  most  sensational  of 
all  the  versions  of  the  rupture.  According  to  Mr.  Herndon, 
the  engagement  between  the  two  was  broken  in  the  most 
violent  and  public  way  possible,  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  failing  to 
appear  at  the  wedding.  Mr.  Herndon  even  describes  the 
scene  in  detail : 

"The  time  fixed  for  the  marriage  was  the  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary, 1841.  Careful  preparations  for  the  happy  occasion  were 
made  at  the  Edwards  mansion.  The  house  underwent  the 
customary  renovation ;  the  furniture  was  properly  arranged, 
the  rooms  neatly  decorated,  the  supper  prepared,  and  the 
guests  invited.  The  latter  assembled  on  the  evening  in  ques- 
tion, and  awaited  in  expectant  pleasure  the  interesting  cere- 
mony of  marriage.  The  bride,  bedecked  in  veil  and  silken 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  175 

gown,  and  nervously  toying  with  the  flowers  in  her  hair,  sat 
in  the  adjoining  room.  Nothing  was  lacking  but  the  groom. 
For  some  strange  reason  he  had  been  delayed.  An  hour 
passed,  and  the  guests,  as  well  as  the  bride,  were  becoming 
restless.  But  they  were  all  doomed  to  disappointment.  An- 
other hour  passed ;  messengers  were  sent  out  over  town,  and 
each  returning  with  the  same  report,  it  became  apparent  that 
Lincoln,  the  principal  in  this  little  drama,  had  purposely 
failed  to  appear.  The  bride,  in  grief,  disappeared  to  her 
room;  the  wedding  supper  was  left  untouched;  the  guests 
quietly  and  wonderingly  withdrew;  the  lights  in  the  Ed- 
wards mansion  were  blown  out,  and  darkness  settled  over  all 
for  the  night.  What  the  feelings  of  a  lady  as  sensitive,  pas- 
sionate, and  proud  as  Miss  Todd  were,  we  can  only  imagine; 
no  one  can  ever  describe  them.  By  daybreak,  after  persistent 
search,  Lincoln's  friends  found  him.  Restless,  gloomy, 
miserable,  desperate,  he  seemed  an  object  of  pity.  His 
friends,  Speed  among  the  number,  fearing  a  tragic  termina- 
tion, watched  him  closely  in  their  rooms  day  and  night. 
'Knives  and  razors,  and  every  instrument  that  could  be  used 
for  self-destruction,  were  removed  from  his  reach/  Mrs. 
Edwards  did  not  hesitate  to  regard  him  as  insane,  and  of 
course  her  sister  Mary  shared  in  that  view." 

No  one  can  read  this  description  in  connection  with  the 
rest  of  Mr.  Herndon's  text,  and  escape  the  impression  that, 
if  it  is  true,  there  must  have  been  a  vein  of  cowardice  in 
Lincoln.  The  context  shows  that  he  was  not  insane  enough 
to  excuse  such  a  public  insult  to  a  woman.  To  break  his  en- 
gagement was,  all  things  considered,  not  an  unusual  or  ab- 
normal thing;  to  brood  over  the  rupture,  to  blame  himself, 
to  feel  that  he  had  been  dishonorable,  was  to  be  expected, 
after  such  an  act,  from  one  of  his  temperament.  Nothing, 
however,  but  temporary  insanity  or  constitutional  cowardice 
could  explain  such  conduct  as  here  described.  Mr.  Herndon 
doas  not  pretend  to  found  his  story  on  any  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  affair.  He  was  in  Springfield  at  the  time,  a  clerk 
in  Speed's  store,  but  did  not  have  then,  nor,  indeed,  did  he 


17*  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ever  have,  any  social  relations  with  the  families  in  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  always  a  welcome  guest.  His  authority 
for  the  story  is  a  remark  which  he  says  Mrs.  Ninian  Ed- 
wards made  to  him  in  an  interview:  "Lincoln  and  Mary 
were  engaged;  everything  was  ready  and  prepared  for  the 
marriage,  even  to  the  supper.  Mr.  Lincoln  failed  to  meet  his 
engagement;  cause,  insanity."  This  remark,  it  should  be 
noted,  is  not  from  a  manuscript  written  by  Mrs.  Edwards, 
but  in  a  report  of  an  interview  with  her,  written  by  Mr. 
Herndon.  Supposing,  however,  that  the  statement  was  made 
exactly  as  Mr.  Herndon  reports  it,  it  certainly  does  not 
justify  any  such  sensational  description  as  Mr.  Herndon 
gives. 

If  such  a  thing  had  ever  occurred,  it  could  not  have  failed 
to  be  known,  of  course,  even  to  its  smallest  details,  by  all  the 
relatives  and  friends  of  both  Miss  Todd  and  Mr.  Lincoln. 
Nobody,  however,  ever  heard  of  this  wedding  party  until 
Mr.  Herndon  gave  his  material  to  the  public. 

One  of  the  closest  friends  of  the  Lincolns  throughout  their 
lives  was  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's,  Mrs.  Grimsley,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Dr.  Brown.  Mrs.  Grimsley  lived  in  Springfield, 
on  the  most  intimate  and  friendly  relations  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  the  first  six  months  of  their  life  in  the 
White  House  she  spent  with  them.  She  was  a  woman  of  un- 
usual culture,  and  of  the  rarest  sweetness  and  graciousness 
of  character.  Some  months  before  Mrs.  Brown's  death,  in 
August,  1895,  a  copy  of  Mr.  Herndon's  story  was  sent  her, 
with  a  request  that  'she  write  for  publication  her  knowledge 
of  the  affair.  In  her  reply  she  said : 

"Did  Mr.  Lincoln  fail  to  appear  when  the  invitations  were 
out,  the  guests  invited,  and  the  supper  ready  for  the  wed- 
ding? I  will  say  emphatically,  'No/ 

"There  may  have  been  a  little  shadow  of  foundation  for 
Mr.  Herndon's  lively  imagination  to  play  upon,  in  that,  the 
year  previous  to  the  marriage,  and  when  Mr.  Lincoln  and 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  177 

my  cousin  Mary  expected  soon  to  be  married,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  taken  with  one  of  those  fearful,  overwhelming  periods 
of  depression,  which  induced  his  friends  to  persuade  him  to 
leave  Springfield.  This  he  did  for  a  time ;  but  I  am  satisfied 
he  was  loyal  and  true  to  Mary,  even  though  at  times  he  may 
have  doubted  whether  he  was  responding  as  fully  as  a  manly, 
generous  nature  should  to  such  affection  as  he  knew  my 
cousin  was  ready  to  bestow  on  him.  And  this  because  it  had 
not  the  overmastering  depth  of  an  early  love.  This  every- 
body here  knows ;  therefore  I  do  not  feel  as  if  I  were  betray 
ing  dear  friends." 

Mrs.  John  Stuart,  the  wife  of  Lincoln's  law  partner  at 
that  time,  is  still  living  in  Springfield,  a  refined,  cultivated, 
intelligent  woman,  who  remembers  perfectly  the  life  and 
events  of  that  day.  When  Mr.  Herndon' s  story  first  came 
to  her  attention,  her  indignation  was  intense.  She  protested 
that  she  never  before  had  heard  of  such  a  thing.  Mrs.  Stuart 
was  not,  however,  in  'Springfield  at  that  particular  date,  but 
in  Washington,  her  husband  being  a  member  of  Congress. 
She  wrote  the  following  statement  for  this  biography : 

"I  cannot  deny  this,  as  I  was  not  in  Springfield  for  some 
months  before  and  after  this  occurrence  was  said  to  have 
taken  place ;  but  I  was  in  close  correspondence  with  relatives 
and  friends  during  all  this  time,  and  never  heard  a  word  of 
it.  The  late  Judge  Broadwell  told  me  that  he  had  asked 
Mr.  Ninian  Edwards  about  it,  and  Mr.  Edwards  told  him 
that  no  such  thing  had  ever  taken  place. 

"All  I  can  say  is  that  I  unhesitatingly  do  not  believe  such 
an  event  ever  occurred.  I  thought  I  had  never  heard  of 
this  till  I  saw  it  in  Herndon's  book.  I  have  since  been  told 
that  Lamon  mentions  the  same  thing.  I  read  Lamon  at  the 
time  he  published,  and  felt  very  much  disgusted,  but  did  not 
remember  this  particular  assertion.  The  first  chapters  of 
Lamon' s  book  were  purchased  from  Herndon;  so  Herndon 
is  responsible  for  the  whole. 

"Mrs.  Lincoln  told  me  herself  all  the  circumstances  of  her 
engagement  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  his  illness,  and  the  breaking 

(12) 


I  ?8  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

off  of  her  engagement,  of  the  renewal,  and  her  marriage. 
So  I  say  I  do  not  believe  one  word  of  this  dishonorable  story 
about  Mr.  Lincoln." 

Another  prominent  member  in  the  same  circle  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  is  Mrs.  B.  T.  Edwards,  the  widow 
of  Judge  Benjamin  T.  Edwards,  the  sister-in-law  of  Mr. 
Ninian  Edwards,  who  had  married  Miss  Todd's  sister.  She 
came  to  Springfield  in  1839,  an<^  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd,  and  knew,  as  well  as  an- 
other could  know,  their  affairs.  Mrs.  Edwards  is  still  living 
in  Springfield,  a  woman  of  the  most  perfect  refinement  and 
trustworthiness.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "Is  Mr.  Hern- 
don's  description  true?"  she  writes: 

"I  am  impatient  to  tell  you  that  all  that  he  says  about  this 
wedding — the  time  for  which  was  'fixed  for  the  first  day  of 
January' — is  a  fabrication.  He  has  drawn  largely  upon  his 
imagination  in  describing  something  which  never  took  place. 

"I  know  the  engagement  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Miss 
Todd  was  interrupted  for  a  time,  and  it  was  rumored  among 
her  young  friends  that  Mr.  Edwards  had  rather  opposed  it. 
But  I  am  sure  there  had  been  no  'time  fixed'  for  any  wed- 
ding; that  is,  no  preparations  had  ever  been  made  until  the 
day  that  Mr.  Lincoln  met  Mr.  Edwards  on  the  street  and  told 
him  that  he  and  Mary  were  going  to  be  married  that  even- 
ing. Upon  inquiry,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  they  would  be  married 
in  the  Episcopal  church,  to  which  Mr.  Edwards  replied :  'No; 
Mary  is  my  ward,  and  she  must  be  married  at  my  house/ 

"If  I  remember  rightly,  the  wedding  guests  were  few,  not 
more  than  thirty;  and  it  seems  to  me  all  are  gone  now  but 
Mrs.  Wallace,  Mrs.  Levering,  and  myself,  for  it  was  not 
much  more  than  a  family  gathering;  only  two  or  three  of 
Mary  Todd's  young  friends  were  present.  The  'entertain- 
ment' was  simple,  but  in  beautiful  taste;  but  the  bride  had 
neither  veil  nor  flowers  in  her  hair,  with  which  to  'toy 
nervously/  There  had  been  no  elaborate  trousseau  for  the 
bride  of  the  future  President  of  the  United  States,  nor  even 
a  handsome  wedding  gown ;  nor  was  it  a  gay  wedding." 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  179 

Two  sisters  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  who  are  still  living,  Mrs. 
Wallace  of  Springfield,  and  Mrs.  Helm  of  Elizabethstown, 
Kentucky,  deny  emphatically  that  any  wedding  was  ever  ar- 
ranged between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  but  the  one 
which  did  take  place.  That  the  engagement  was  broken 
after  a  wedding  had  been  talked  of,  they  think  possible ;  but 
Mr.  Herndon's  story,  they  deny  emphatically. 

"There  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it !"  Mrs.  Wallace  broke 
out,  impulsively,  before  the  question  about  the  non-appear- 
ance of  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  finished.  "I  never  was  so 
amazed  in  my  life  as  when  I  read  that  story.  Mr.  Lincoln 
never  did  such  a  thing.  Why,  Mary  Lincoln  never  had  a 
silk  dress  in  her  life  until  she  went  to  Washington." 

As  Mr.  Joshua  Speed  was,  all  through  this  period,  Mr. 
Lincoln's  closest  friend,  no  thought  or  feeling  of  the  one  ever 
being  concealed  from  the  other,  Mrs.  Joshua  Speed,  who  is 
still  living  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  was  asked  if  she  knew 
of  the  story.  Mrs.  Speed  listened  in  surprise  to  Mr.  Hern- 
don's tale.  "I  never  heard  of  it  before,"  she  declared.  "I 
never  heard  of  it.  If  it  is  true,  I  never  heard  of  it." 

While  the  above  investigation  was  going  on  quite  unex- 
pectedly, a  volunteer  witness  to  the  falsity  of  the  story  ap- 
peared. The  Hon.  H.  W.  Thornton  of  Millersburg,  Illinois, 
was  a  member  of  the  Twelfth  General  Assembly,  which  met 
in  Springfield  in  1840.  During  that  winter  he  was  boarding 
near  Lincoln,  saw  him  almost  every  day,  was  a  constant  visi- 
tor at  Mr.  Ed  wards' s  house,  and  kc  knew  Miss  Todd  well. 
He  wrote  to  the  author  declaring  that  Mr.  Herndon's  state- 
ment about  the  wedding  must  be  false,  as  he  was  closely  asso- 
ciated with  Miss  Todd  and  Mr.  Lincoln  all  winter,  and  never 
knew  anything  of  it.  Mr.  Thornton  went  on  to  say  that  he 
knew  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  sensational  account  of  Lin- 
coln's insanity  was  untrue,  and  he  quoted  from  the  House 
journal  to  show  how  it  was  impossible  that,  as  Lamon  says, 


l8o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

using  Herndon's  notes,  "Lincoln  went  crazy  as  a  loon,  and 
did  not  attend  the  legislature  in  1841-1842,  for  this  rea- 
son;" or,  as  Herndon  says,  that  he  had  to  be  watched  con- 
stantly. According  to  the  record  taken  from  the  journals  of 
the  House  by  Mr.  Thornton,  and  which  have  been  verified  in 
Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  his  seat  in  the  House  on 
that  "fatal  first  of  January"  when  he  is  asserted  to  have  been 
groping  in  the  shadow  of  madness,  and  he  was  also  there  on 
the  following  day.  The  third  of  January  was  Sunday.  On 
Monday,  the  fourth,  he  appears  not  to  have  been  present — 
at  least  he  did  not  vote;  but  even  this  is  by  no  means  con- 
clusive evidence  that  he  was  not  there.  On  the  fifth,  and  on 
every  succeeding  day  until  the  thirteenth,  he  was  in  his  seat. 
From  the  thirteenth  to  the  eighteenth,  inclusive,  he  is  not 
recorded  on  any  of  the  roll-calls,  and  probably  was  not  pres- 
ent. But  on  the  nineteenth,  when  "John  J.  Hardin  announced 
his  illness  to  the  House,"  as  Mr.  Herndon  says  (which  an- 
nouncement seems  not  to  have  gotten  into  the  journal),  Lin- 
coln was  again  in  his  place,  and  voted.  On  the  twentieth  he 
is  not  recorded ;  but  on  every  subsequent  day,  until  the  close 
of  the  session  on  the  first  of  March,  Lincoln  was  in  the 
House.  Thus,  during  the  whole  of  the  two  months  of  Janu- 
ary and  February,  he  was  absent  not  more  than  seven  days 
— as  good  a  record  of  attendance,  perhaps,  as  that  made  by 
the  average  member. 

Mr.  Thornton  says  further:  "Mr.  Lincoln  boarded  at 
William  Butler's,  near  to  Dr.  Henry's,  where  I  boarded.  The 
missing  days,  from  January  I3th  to  iQth,  Mr.  Lincoln  spent 
several  hours  each  day  at  Dr.  Henry's;  a  part  of  these  days 
I  remained  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  His  most  intimate  friends 
had  no  fears  of  his  injuring  himself.  He  was  very  sad  and 
melancholy,  but  being  subject  to  these  spells,  nothing  serious 
was  apprehended.  His  being  watched,  as  stated  in  Hern* 
ion's  book,  was  news  to  me  until  I  saw  \t  there." 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT 

But  while  Lincoln  went  about  his  daily  duties,  even  on  the 
"fatal  first  of  January," — the  day  when  he  broke  his  word  to 
Miss  Todd,  his  whole  being  was  shrouded  in  gloom.  He 
did  not  pretend  to  conceal  this  from  his  friends.  Writing  to 
Mr.  Stuart  on  January  23d,  he  said : 

"I  am  now  the  most  miserable  man  living.  If  what  I  feel 
were  equally  distributed  to  the  whole  human  family,  there 
would  not  be  one  cheerful  face  on  the  earth.  Whether  I 
shall  ever  be  better,  I  cannot  tell;  I  awfully  forebode  I  shall 
not.  To  remain  as  I  am  is  impossible.  I  must  die  or  be 
better,  it  appears  to  me.  The  matter  you  speak  of  on  my 
account  you  may  attend  to  as  you  say,  unless  you  shall  hear 
of  my  condition  forbidding  it.  I  say  this  because  I  fear  I 
shall  be  unable  to  attend  to  any  business  here,  and  a  change 
of  scene  might  help  me." 

In  the  summer  he  visited  his  friend  Speed,  who  had  sold 
his  store  in  Springfield,  and  returned  to  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky. The  visit  did  much  to  brighten  his  spirits,  for,  writ- 
ing back  in  September,  after  his  return,  to  his  friend's  sister, 
he  was  even  gay. 

A  curious  situation  arose  the  next  year  (1842),  which  did 
much  to  restore  Lincoln  to  a  more  normal  view  of  his  relation 
to  Miss  Todd.  In  the  summer  of  1841,  his  friend  Speed 
had  become  engaged.  As  the  time  for  his  marriage  ap- 
proached, he  in  turn  was  attacked  by  a  melancholy  not  un- 
like that  from  which  Lincoln  had  suffered.  He  feared  he  did 
not  love  well  enough  to  marry,  and  he  confided  his  fear  to 
Lincoln.  Full  of  sympathy  for  the  trouble  of  his  friend,  Lin- 
coln tried  in  every  way  to  persuade  him  that  his  "twinges 
of  the  soul"  were  all  explained  by  nervous  debility.  When 
Speed  returned  to  Kentucky,  Lincoln  wrote  him  several  let- 
ters, in  which  he  consoled,  counselled,  or  laughed  at  him. 
These  letters  abound  in  suggestive  passages.  From  what  did 
Speed  suffer  ?  From  three  special  causes  and  a  general  one, 
which  Lincoln  proceeds  to  enumerate  : 


' 


1 82  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"The  general  cause  is,  that  you  are  naturally  of  a  nervous 
temperament;  and  this  I  say  from  what  I  have  seen  of  you 
personally,  and  what  you  have  told  me  concerning  your 
mother  at  various  times,  and  concerning  your  brother  Will- 
iam at  the  time  his  wife  died.  The  first  special  cause  is  your 
exposure  to  bad  weather  on  your  journey,  which  my  ex- 
perience clearly  proves  to  be  very  severe  on  defective  nerves. 
The  second  is  the  absence  of  all  business  and  conversation  of 
friends,  which  might  divert  your  mind,  give  it  occasional  rest 
from  the  intensity  of  thought  which  will  sometimes  wear  the 
sweetest  idea  threadbare  and  turn  it  to  the  bitterness  of 
death.  The  third  is  the  rapid  and  near  approach  of  that 
crisis  on  which  all  your  thoughts  and  feelings  concentrate." 

Speed  writes  that  his  fiancte  is  ill,  and  his  letter  is  full  of 
gloomy  forebodings  of  an  early  death.  Lincoln  hails  these 
fears  as  an  omen  of  happiness. 

"I  hope  and  believe  that  your  present  anxiety  and  distress 
about  her  health  and  her  life  must  and  will  forever  banish 
those  horrid  doubts  which  I  know  you  sometimes  felt  as  to 
the  truth  of  your  affection  for  her.  If  they  can  once  and  for- 
ever be  removed  (and  I  almost  feel  a  presentiment  that  the 
Almighty  has  sent  your  present  affliction  expressly  for  that 
object),  surely  nothing  can  come  in  their  stead  to  fill  their 
immeasurable  measure  of  misery.  It  really  appears  to  me 
that  you  yourself  ought  to  rejoice,  and  not  sorrow,  at  this  in- 
dubitable evidence  of  your  undying  affection  for  her.  Why, 
Speed,  if  you  did  not  love  her,  although  you  might  not  wish 
her  death,  you  would  most  certainly  be  resigned  to  it.  Per- 
haps this  point  is  no  longer  a  question  with  you,  and  my 
pertinacious  dwelling  upon  it  is  a  rude  intrusion  upon  your 
feelings.  If  so,  you  must  pardon  me.  You  know  the  hell  I 
have  suffered  on  that  point,  and  how  tender  I  am  upon  it. 
...  I  am  now  fully  convinced  that  you  love  her  as  ardently 
as  you  are  capable  of  loving.  Your  ever  being  happy  in  her 
presence,  and  your  intense  anxiety  about  her  health,  if  there 
were  nothing  else,  would  place  this  beyond  all  dispute  in  my 
mind.  I  incline  to  think  it  probable  that  your  nerves  will  fail 
you  occasionally  for  a  while ;  but  once  you  get  them  firmly 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  183 

guarded  now,  that  trouble  is  over  forever.  I  think,  if  I  were 
you,  in  case  my  mind  were  not  exactly  right,  I  would  avoid 
being  idle.  I  would  immediately  engage  in  some  business  or 
go  to  making  preparations  for  it,  which  would  be  the  same 
thing." 

Mr.  Speed's  marriage  occurred  in  February,  and  to  the 
letter  announcing  it  Lincoln  replied : 

"I  opened  the  letter  with  intense  anxiety  and  trepidation ; 
so  much  so,  that,  although  it  turned  out  better  than  I  ex- 
pected, I  have  hardly  yet,  at  a  distance  of  ten  hours,  become 
calm. 

"I  tell  you,  Speed,  our  forebodings  (for  which  you  and  I 
are  peculiar)  are  all  the  worst  sort  of  nonsense.  I  fancied, 
from  the  time  I  received  your  letter  of  Saturday,  that  the 
one  of  Wednesday  was  never  to  come,  and  yet  it  did  come, 
and  what  is  more,  it  is  perfectly  clear,  both  from  its  tone 
and  handwriting,  that  you  were  much  happier,  or,  if  you 
think  the  term  preferable,  less  miserable,  when  you  wrote  it 
than  when  you  wrote  the  last  one  before.  You  had  so  ob- 
viously improved  at  the  very  time  I  so  much  fancied  you 
would  have  grown  worse.  You  say  that  something  indes- 
cribably horrible  and  alarming  still  haunts  you.  You  will 
not  say  that  three  months  from  now,  I  will  venture.  When 
your  nerves  once  get  steady  now,  the  whole  trouble  will  be 
over  forever.  Nor  should  you  become  impatient  at  their 
being  even  very  slow  in  becoming  steady.  Again  you  say, 
you  much  fear  that  that  Elysium  of  which  you  have  dreamed 
so  much  is  never  to  be  realized.  Well,  if  it  shall  not,  I  dare 
swear  it  will  not  be  the  fault  of  her  who  is  now  your  wife. 
I  now  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  peculiar  misfortune  of 
both  you  and  me  to  dream  dreams  of  Elysium  far  exceeding 
all  that  anything  earthly  can  realize." 

His  prophecy  was  true.  In  March  Speed  wrote  him  that 
he  was  "far  happier  than  he  had  ever  expected  to  be."  Lin- 
coln caught  at  the  letter  with  pathetic  eagerness. 

"It  cannot  be  told  how  it  now  thrills  me  with  joy  to  hear 
you  say  you  are  'far  happier  than  vou  ever  expected  to  be/ 


1 84  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

That  much  I  know  is  enough.  I  know  you  too  well  to  sup- 
pose your  expectations  were  not,  at  least,  sometimes  ex- 
travagant, and  if  the  reality  exceeds  them  all,  I  say,  Enough, 
dear  Lord.  I  am  not  going  beyond  the  truth  when  I  tell 
you  that  the  short  space  it  took  me  to  read  your  last 
letter  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  the  total  sum  of  all  I 
have  enjoyed  since  the  fatal  ist  of  January,  1841.  Since 
then  it  seems  to  me  I  should  have  been  entirely  happy,  but 
for  the  never-absent  idea  that  there  is  one  still  unhappy 
whom  I  have  contributed  to  make  so.  That  still  kills  my  soul. 
I  cannot  but  reproach  myself  for  even  wishing  to  be  happy 
while  she  is  otherwise.  She  accompanied  a  large  party  on 
the  railroad  cars  to  Jacksonville  last  Monday,  and  on  her  re- 
turn spoke,  so  that  I  heard  of  it,  of  having  enjoyed  the  trip 
exceedingly.  God  be  praised  for  that." 

Evidently  Lincoln  was  still  unreconciled  to  his  separation 
from  Miss  Todd.  In  the  summer  of  1842,  only  three  or  four 
months  after  the  above  letter  was  written,  a  clever  ruse  on 
the  part  of  certain  of  their  friends  threw  the  two  unexpect- 
edly together ;  and  an  understanding  of  some  kind  evidently 
was  reached,  for  during  the  season  they  met  secretly  at  the 
house  of  one  of  Lincoln's  friends,  Mr.  Simeon  Francis.  It 
was  while  these  meetings  were  going  on  that  a  burlesque  en- 
counter occurred  between  Lincoln  and  James  Shields,  for 
which  Miss  Todd  was  partly  responsible,  and  which  no  doubt 
gave  just  the  touch  of  comedy  necessary  to  relieve  their 
'tragedy  and  restore  them  to  a  healthier  view  of  their  rela- 
tions. 

Among  the  Democratic  officials  then  living  in  Springfield 
was  the  auditor  of  the  State,  James  Shields.  He  was  a  hot- 
headed, blustering  Irishman,  not  without  ability,  and  cer- 
tainly courageous;  a  good  politician,  and,  on  the  whole,  a 
very  well-liked  man.  However,  the  swagger  and  noise  with 
which  he  accompanied  the  execution  of  his  duties,  and  his 
habit  of  being  continually  on  the  defensive,  made  him  the 
butt  of  Whig  ridicule.  Nothing  could  have  given  greater 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  16$ 

satisfaction  to  Lincoln  and  his  friends  than  having  an  op- 
ponent who,  whenever  they  joked  him,  flew  into  a  rage  and 
challenged  them  to  fight. 

At  the  time  Lincoln  was  visiting  Miss  Todd  at  Mr.  Fran- 
cis's house,  the  Whigs  were  much  excited  over  the  fact  that 
the  Democrats  had  issued  an  order  forbidding  the  payment 
of  State  taxes  in  State  bank-notes.  The  bank-notes  were  in 
fact  practically  worthless,  for  the  State  finances  were  suffer- 
ing a  violent  reaction  from  the  extravagant  legislation  of 
1836  and  1837.  One  of  the  popular  ways  of  attacking  an 
obnoxious  political  doctrine  in  that  day  was  writing  letters 
from  some  imaginary  backwoods  settlement,  setting  forth  in 
homely  vernacular  the  writer's  views  of  the  question,  and 
showing  how  its  application  affected  his  part  of  the  world. 
These  letters  were  really  a  rude  form  of  the  "  Biglow  Pa- 
pers "  or  "  Nasby  Letters."  Soon  after  the  order  was  issued 
by  the  Illinois  officials  demanding  silver  instead  of  bank- 
notes in  payment  of  taxes,  Lincoln  wrote  a  letter  to  a  Spring- 
field paper  from  the  "Lost  Townships,"  signing  it  "Aunt 
Rebecca."  In  it  he  described  the  plight  to  which  the  new  or- 
der had  brought  the  neighborhood,  and  he  intimated  that  the 
only  reason  for  issuing  such  an  order  was  that  the  State  of- 
ficers might  have  their  salaries  paid  in  silver.  Shields  was 
ridiculed  unmercifully  in  the  letter  for  his  vanity  and  his 
gallantry. 

It  happened  that  there  were  several  young  women  in 
Springfield  who  had  received  rather  too  pronounced  atten- 
tion from  Mr.  Shields,  and  who  were  glad  to  see  him  tor- 
mented. Among  them  were  Miss  Todd  and  her  friend  Miss 
Julia  Jayne.  Lincoln's  letter  from  the  "Lost  Townships" 
was  such  a  success  that  they  followed  it  up  with  one  in  which 
"Aunt  Rebecca"  proposed  to  the  gallant  auditor,  and  a  few 
days  later  they  published  some  very  bad  verses,  signed 
"Cathleen,"  celebrating-  the  wedding. 


186  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

Springfield  was  highly  entertained,  less  by  the  verses  than 
by  the  fury  of  Shields.  He  would  have  satisfaction,  he  said, 
and  he  sent  a  friend,  one  General  Whitesides,  to  the  paper, 
to  ask  for  the  name  of  the  writer  of  the  communications. 
The  editor,  in  a  quandary,  went  to  Lincoln,  who,  unwilling 
that  Miss  Todd  and  Miss  Jayne  should  figure  in  the  affair, 
ordered  that  his  own  name  be  given  as  the  author  of  letters 
and  poem.  This  was  only  about  ten  days  after  the  first  let- 
ter had  appeared,  on  September  2d,  and  Lincoln  left  Spring- 
field in  a  day  or  two  for  a  long  trip  on  the  circuit.  He  was 
at  Tremont  when,  on  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth,  two 
of  his  friends,  E.  H.  Merryman  and  William  Butler,  drove 
up  hastily.  Shields  and  his  friend  Whitesides  were  behind, 
they  said,  the  irate  Irishman  vowing  that  he  would  challenge 
Lincoln.  They,  knowing  that  Lincoln  was  "unpractised  both 
as  to  diplomacy  and  weapons,"  had  started  as  soon  as  they 
had  learned  that  Shields  had  left  Springfield,  had  passed  him 
in  the  night,  and  were  there  to  see  Lincoln  through. 

It  was  not  long  before  Shields  and  Whitesides  arrived,  and 
soon  Lincoln  received  a  note  in  which  the  indignant  writer 
said :  "I  will  take  the  liberty  of  requiring  a  full,  positive,  and 
absolute  retraction  of  all  offensive  allusions  used  by  you  in 
these  communications  in  relation  to  my  private  character 
and  standing  as  a  man,  as  an  apology  for  the  insults  con- 
veyed in  them.  This  may  prevent  consequences  which  no 
one  will  regret  more  than  myself." 

Lincoln  immediately  replied  that,  since  Shields  had  not 
stopped  to  inquire  whether  he  really  was  the  author  of  the 
articles,  had  not  pointed  out  what  was  offensive  in  them,  had 
assumed  facts  and  hinted  at  consequences,  he  could  not  sub- 
mit to  answer  the  note.  Shields  wrote  again,  but  Lincoln 
simply  replied  that  he  could  receive  nothing  but  a  withdrawal 
of  the  first  note  or  a  challenge.  To  this  he  steadily  held,  even 
refusing  to  answer  the  Question  as  to  the  authorship  of  the 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  iSj 

letters,  which  Shields  finally  put.  It  was  inconsistent  with 
his  honor  to  negotiate  for  peace  with  Mr.  Shields,  he  said. 
unless  Mr.  Shields  withdrew  his  former  offensive  letter. 
Seconds  were  immediately  named:  Whitesides  by  Shields, 
Merryman  by  Lincoln;  and  though  they  talked  of  peace, 
Whitesides  declared  he  could  not  mention  it  to  his  principal. 
"He  would  challenge  me  next,  and  as  soon  cut  my  throat  as 
not" 

This  was  on  the  nineteenth,  and  that  night  the  party  re- 
turned to  Springfield.  But  in  some  way  the  affair  had  leaked 
out,  and  fearing  arrest,  Lincoln  and  Merryman  left  town  the 
next  morning.  The  instructions  were  left  with  Butler.  If 
Shields  would  withdraw  his  first  note,  and  write  another 
asking  if  Lincoln  was  the  author  of  the  offensive  articles, 
and,  if  so,  asking  for  gentlemanly  satisfaction,  then  Lincoln 
had  prepared  a  letter  explaining  the  whole  affair.  If  Shields 
would  not  do  this,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  fight.  Lin- 
coln left  the  following  preliminaries  for  the  duel : 

"First.  Weapons:  Cavalry  broadswords  of  the  largest 
size,  precisely  equal  in  all  respects,  and  such  as  now  used  by 
the  cavalry  company  at  Jacksonville. 

"Second.  Position :  A  plank  ten  feet  long,  and  from  nine 
to  twelve  inches  broad,  to  be  firmly  fixed  on  edge,  on  the 
ground,  as  the  line  between  us,  which  neither  is  to  pass  his 
foot  over  on  forfeit  of  his  life.  Next  a  line  drawn  on  the 
ground  on  either  side  of  said  plank  and  parallel  with  it,  each 
at  the  distance  of  the  whole  length  of  the  sword  and  three 
feet  additional  from  the  plank;  and  the  passing  of  his  own 
such  line  by  either  party  during  the  fight  shall  be  deemed  a 
surrender  of  the  contest. 

"Third.  Time:  On  Thursday  evening  at  five  o'clock,  if 
you  can  get  it  so ;  but  in  no  case  to  be  at  a  greater  distance  of 
time  than  Friday  evening  at  five  o'clock. 

"Fourth.  Place :  Within  three  miles  of  Alton,  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  river,  the  particular  spot  to  be  agreed  on 
by  yow-w 


1 88  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

As  Mr.  Shields  refused  to  withdraw  his  first  note,  the  en* 
tire  party  started  for  the  rendezvous  across  the  Mississippi. 
Lincoln  and  Merryman  drove  together  in  a  dilapidated  old 
buggy,  in  the  bottom  of  which  rattled  a  number  of  broad- 
swords. It  was  the  morning  of  the  22d  of  September  when 
the  duellists  arrived  in  the  town.  There  are  people  still  liv- 
ing in  Alton  who  remember  their  coming.  "The  party  ar- 
rived about  the  middle  of  the  morning,"  says  Mr.  Edward 
Levis,  "and  soon  crossed  the  river  to  a  sand-bar  which  at  the 
time  was,  by  reason  of  the  low  water,  a  part  of  the  Missouri 
mainland.  The  means  of  conveyance  was  an  old  horse- ferry 
that  was  operated  by  a  man  named  Chapman.  The  weapons 
were  in  the  keeping  of  the  friends  of  the  principals,  and  no 
care  was  taken  to  conceal  them ;  in  fact,  they  were  openly  dis- 
played. Naturally,  there  was  a  great  desire  among  the  male 
population  to  attend  the  duel,  but  the  managers  of  the  affair 
would  not  permit  any  but  their  own  party  to  board  the  ferry- 
boat. Skirls  were  very  scarce,  and  but  a  few  could  avail 
themselves  of  the  opportunity  in  this  way.  I  had  to  content 
myself  with  standing  on  the  levee  and  watching  proceedings 
at  long  range." 

As  soon  as  the  parties  reached  the  island  the  seconds  be- 
gan preparations  for  the  duel,  the  principals  meanwhile  seat- 
ing themselves  on  logs  on  opposite  sides  of  the  field — -a  half- 
cleared  spot  in  the  timber.  One  of  the  spectators  says : 

"I  watched  Lincoln  closely  while  he  sat  on  his  log  awaiting 
the  signal  to  fight.  His  face  was  grave  and  serious.  I  could 
discern  nothing  suggestive  of  'Old  Abe/  as  we  knew  him.  I 
never  knew  him  to  go  so  long  before  without  making  a  joke, 
and  I  began  to  believe  he  was  getting  frightened.  But  pres- 
ently he  reached  over  and  picked  up  one  of  the  swords,  which 
he  drew  from  its  scabbard.  Then  he  felt  along  the  edge  of 
the  weapon  with  his  thumb,  like  a  barber  feels  of  the  edge  of 
his  razor,  raised  himself  to  his  full  height,  stretched  out  his 
long  arms  and  clipped  off  a  twig  from  above  his  head  with 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  189 

the  sword.  There  wasn't  another  man  of  us  who  could  have 
reached  anywhere  near  that  twig,  and  the  absurdity  of  that 
long-reaching  fellow  fighting  with  cavalry  sabers  with 
Shields,  who  could  walk  under  his  arm,  came  pretty  near 
making  me  howl  with  laughter.  After  Lincoln  had  cut  off 
the  twig  he  returned  the  sword  to  the  scabbard  with  a  sigh 
and  sat  down,  but  I  detected  the  gleam  in  his  eye,  which  was 
always  the  forerunner  of  one  of  his  inimitable  yarns,  and 
fully  expected  him  to  tell  a  side-splitter  there  in  the  shadow 
of  the  grave — Shields' s  grave." 

The  arrangements  for  the  affair  were  about  completed 
when  the  duellists  were  joined  by  some  unexpected  friends. 
Lincoln  and  Merryman,  on  their  way  to  Alton,  had  stopped 
at  White  Hall  for  dinner.  Across  the  street  from  the  hotel 
lived  Mr.  Elijah  Lott,  an  acquaintance  of  Merryman.  Mr. 
.  Lott  was  not  long  in  finding  out  what  was  on  foot,  and  as 
soon  as  the  duellists  had  departed,  he  drove  to  Carrollton, 
where  he  knew  that  Colonel  John  J.  Hardin  and  several 
other  friends  of  Lincoln  were  attending  court,  and  warned 
them  of  the  trouble.  Hardin  and  one  or  two  others  imme- 
diately started  for  Alton.  They  arrived  in  time  to  calm 
Shields,  and  to  aid  the  seconds  in  adjusting  matters  "with 
honor  to  all  concerned." 

That  the  duellists  returned  in  good  spirits  is  evident  from 
Mr.  Levis's  reminiscences :  "It  was  not  very  long,"  says  he, 
"until  the  boat  was  seen  returning  to  Alton.  As  it  drew  near 
I  saw  what  was  presumably  a  mortally  wounded  man  lying 
in  the  bow  of  the  boat.  His  shirt  appeared  to  be  bathed  in 
blood.  I  distinguished  Jacob  Smith,  a  constable,  fanning  the 
supposed  victim  vigorously.  The  people  on  the  bank  held 
their  breath  in  suspense,  and  guesses  were  freely  made  as  to 
which  of  the  two  men  had  been  so  terribly  wounded.  But 
suspense  was  soon  turned  to  chagrin  and  relief  when  it  tran- 
spired that  the  supposed  candidate  for  another  world  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  log  covered  with  a  red  shirt 


190  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

This  ruse  had  been  resorted  to  in  order  to  fool  the  people  on 
the  levee;  and  it  worked  to  perfection.  Lincoln  and  Shields 
came  off  the  boat  together,  chatting  in  a  nonchalant  and 
pleasant  manner." 

The  Lincoln-Shields  duel  had  so  many  farcical  features, 
and  Miss  Todd  had  unwittingly  been  so  much  to  blame  for 
it,  that  one  can  easily  see  that  it  might  have  had  considerable 
influence  on  the  relations  of  the  two  young  people.  However 
that  may  be,  something  had  made  Mr.  Lincoln  feel  that  he 
could  renew  his  engagement.  Early  in  October,  not  a  fort- 
night after  the  duel,  he  wrote  Speed :  "You  have  now  been 
the  husband  of  a  lovely  woman  nearly  eight  months.  That 
you  are  happier  now  than  the  day  you  married  her  I  well 
know,  for  without  you  would  not  be  living.  But  I  have  your 
word  for  it,  too,  and  the  returning  elasticity  of  spirits  which 
is  manifested  in  your  letters.  But  I  want  to  ask  a  close  ques- 
tion :  Are  you  now  in  feelings  as  well  as  judgment  glad  that 
you  are  married  as  you  are? 

"From  anybody  but  me  this  would  be  an  impudent  ques- 
tion, not  to  be  tolerated ;  but  I  know  that  you  will  pardon  it 
in  me.  Please  answer  it  quickly,  as  I  am  impatient  to  know." 

We  do  not  know  Speed's  answer,  nor  the  final  struggle 
of  the  man's  heart.  We  only  know  that  on  November  4, 
1842,  Lincoln  was  married,  the  wedding  being  almost  im- 
promptu. Mrs.  Dr.  Brown,  Miss  Todd's  cousin,  in  the  same 
letter  quoted  from  above,  describes  the  wedding : 

"One  morning,  bright  and  early,  my  cousin  came  down  in 
her  excited,  impetuous  way,  and  said  to  my  father :  'Uncle, 
you  must  go  up  and  tell  my  sister  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  I 
are  to  be  married  this  evening/  and  to  me :  'Get  on  your  bon- 
net and  go  with  me  to  get  my  gloves,  shoes,  etc.,  and  then  to 
Mr.  Edwards's.'  When  we  reached  there  we  found  some  ex- 
citement over  a  wedding  being  sprung  upon  them  so  sud- 
denly. However,  my  father,  in  his  lovely,  pacific  way, 
'poured  oil  upon  the  waters/  and  we  thought  everything  was 


HIS  MARRIAGE  ENGAGEMENT  1  9  1 

'ship-shape/  when  Mrs.  Edwards  laughingly  said  :  'How  for* 
Innately  you  selected  this  evening,  for  the  Episcopal  Sewing 
Society  is  to  meet  here,  and  my  supper  is  all  ordered/ 

"But  that  comfortable  little  arrangement  would  not  hold, 
as  Mary  declared  she  would  not  make  a  spectacle  for  gossip- 
ing ladies  to  gaze  upon  and  talk  about;  there  had  already 


fo  jay  Minister  of  ihelfiosp^w  later  a«ihoriwiPerson-TGBEBTIK6. 


OP  MABBIAGB  LICENSE  AJTD  CERTHTOATH  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
From  the  original  on  file  in  the  County  Clerk's  office  of  Springfield,  I1L 

been  too  much  talk  about  her.  Then  my  father  was  des- 
patched to  tell  Mr.  Lincoln  that  the  wedding  would  be  de- 
ferred until  the  next  evening.  Clergyman,  attendants  and 
intimate  friends  were  notified,  and  on  Friday  evening,  in  the 
midst  of  a  small  circle  of  friends,  with  the  elements  doing 
their  worst  in  the  way  of  rain,  this  singular  courtship 
culminated  in  marriage.  This  I  know  to  be  literally  true,  as 
I  was  one  of  her  bridesmaids,  Miss  Jayne  (afterwards  Mrs. 
Lyman  Trumbull)  and  Miss  Rodney  being  the  others." 


CHAPTER  XII 

LINCOLN    BECOMES    A    CANDIDATE    FOR    CONGRESS    AND    I* 

DEFEATED ON    THE    STUMP    IN    1844 NOMINATED    AND 

ELECTED  TO  THE  3OTH  CONGRESS 

FOR  eight  successive  years  Lincoln  had  been  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  Illinois.  It  was  quite  long  enough, 
in  his  judgment,  and  his  friends  seem  to  have  wanted  to  give 
him  something  better,  for  in  1841  they  offered  to  support 
him  as  a  candidate  for  governor  of  the  State.  This,  how- 
ever, he  refused.  His  ambition  was  to  go  to  Washington. 
In  1842  he  declined  renomination  for  the  assembly  and  be- 
came a  candidate  for  Congress.  He  did  not  wait  to  be  asked, 
nor  did  he  leave  his  case  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  He 
frankly  announced  his  desire,  and  managed  his  own  canvass. 
There  was  no  reason,  in  Lincoln's  opinion,  for  concealing 
political  ambition.  He  recognized,  at  the  same  time,  the 
legitimacy  of  the  ambition  of  his  friends,  and  entertained  no 
suspicion  or  rancor  if  they  contested  places  with  him. 

"Do  you  suppose  that  I  should  ever  have  got  into  notice 
if  I  had  waited  to  be  hunted  up  and  pushed  forward  by  older 
men?"  he  wrote  his  friend  Herndon  once,  when  the  latter 
was  complaining  that  the  older  men  did  not  help  him  on. 
"The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is  to  improve  himself 
every  way  he  can,  never  suspecting  that  anybody  wishes  to 
hinder  him.  Allow  me  to  assure  you  that  suspicion  and  jeal- 
ousy never  did  help  any  man  in  any  situation.  There  may 
sometimes  be  ungenerous  attempts  to  keep  a  young  man 
down ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he  allows  his  mind  to  be 
diverted  from  its  true  channel  to  brood  over  the  attempted 

192 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS   193 

injury.    Cast  about,  and  see  if  this  feeling  has  not  injured 
every  person  you  have  ever  known  to  fall  into  it." 

Lincoln  had  something  more  to  do,  however,  in  1842,  than 
simply  to  announce  himself  in  the  innocent  manner  of  early 
politics.  The  convention  system  introduced  into  Illinois  in 
1835  by  the  Democrats  had  been  zealously  opposed  by  all 
good  Whigs,  Lincoln  included,  until  constant  defeat  taught 
them  that  to  resist  organization  by  an  every-man-for-himself 
policy  was  hopeless  and  wasteful,  and  that  if  they  would 
succeed  they  must  meet  organization  with  organization.  In 
1841  a  Whig  State  convention  had  been  called  to  nominate 
candidates  for  the  offices  of  governor  and  lieutenant-gover- 
nor; and  now,  in  March,  1843,  a  Whig  meeting  was  held 
again  at  Springfield,  at  which  the  party's  platform  was  laid, 
and  a  committee,  of  which  Lincoln  was  a  member,  was  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  an  "Address  to  the  People  of  Illinois." 
In  this  address  the  convention  system  was  earnestly  de- 
fended. Against  this  rapid  adoption  of  the  abominated  sys- 
tem many  of  the  Whigs  protested,  and  Lincoln  found  him- 
self supporting  before  his  constituents  the  tactics  he  had  once 
warmly  opposed.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend  John  Bennett,  of 
Petersburg,  written  in  March,  1843,  ne 


"I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  any  of  the  Whigs  of  your  county, 
or  of  any  county,  should  longer  be  against  conventions.  On 
last  Wednesday  evening  a  meeting  of  all  the  Whigs  then  here 
from  all  parts  of  the  State  was  held,  and  the  question  of  the 
propriety  of  conventions  was  brought  up  and  fully  discussed, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  discussion  a  resolution  recommending 
the  system  of  conventions  to  all  the  Whigs  of  the  State  was 
unanimously  adopted.  Other  resolutions  were  also  passed, 
all  of  which  will  appear  in  the  next  'Journal/  The  meeting 
also  appointed  a  committee  to  draft  an  address  to  the  people 
of  the  State,  which  address  will  also  appear  in  the  next  'Jour- 
nal.' In  it  you  will  find  a  brief  argument  in  favor  of  con- 
ventions,  and,  although  I  wrote  it  myself,  I  will  say  to  you 

(13) 


194  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

that  it  is  conclusive  upon  the  point,  and  cannot  be  reasonably 
answered. 

"If  there  be  any  good  Whig  who  is  disposed  still  to  stick 
out  against  conventions,  get  him,  at  least,  to  read  the  argu* 
ment  in  their  favor  in  the  'Address/  ' 

The  "brief  argument"  which  Lincoln  thought  so  conclu- 
sive, "if  he  did  write  it  himself,"  justified  his  good  opinion. 
After  its  circulation  there  were  few  found  to  "stick  out 
against  conventions." 

The  Whigs  of  the  various  counties  in  the  Congressional 
district  met  on  April  5,  as  they  had  been  instructed  to  do, 
and  chose  delegates.  John  J.  Hardin  of  Jacksonville,  Ed- 
ward D.  Baker  and  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Springfield,  were 
the  three  candidates  for  whom  these  delegates  were  in- 
structed. 

To  Lincoln's  keen  disappointment,  the  delegation  from 
Sangamon  county  was  instructed  for  Baker.  A  variety  of 
social  and  personal  influences,  besides  Baker's  popularity, 
worked  against  Lincoln.  "It  would  astonish,  if  not  amuse, 
the  older  citizens,"  wrote  Lincoln  to  a  friend,  "to  learn  that 
I  (a  stranger,  friendless,  uneducated,  penniless  boy,  working 
on  a  flatboat  at  ten  dollars  per  month)  have  been  put  down 
here  as  the  candidate  of  pride,  wealth,  and  aristocratic  family 
distinction."  He  was  not  only  accused  of  being  an  aristo- 
crat, he  was  called  "a  deist."  He  had  fought,  or  been  about 
to  fight,  a  duel.  His  wife's  relations  were  Episcopalian  and 
Presbyterian.  He  and  she  attended  a  Presbyterian  church. 
These  influences  alone  could  not  be  said  to  have  defeated 
him,  he  wrote,  but  "they  levied  a  tax  of  considerable  per  cent, 
upon  ray  strength." 

The  meeting  that  named  Baker  as  its  choice  for  Congress 
appointed  Lincoln  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  convention. 
"In  getting  Baker  the  nomination,"  Lincoln  wrote  to  Speed, 
"I  shall  be  fixed  a  good  deal  like  a  fellow  who  is  made  a 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS   195 

groomsman  to  a  man  that  has  cut  him  out,  and  is  marrying 
his  own  dear  'gal/  "  From  the  first,  however,  he  stood 
bravely  by  Baker.  "I  feel  myself  bound  not  to  hinder  him  in 
any  way  from  getting  the  nomination ;  I  should  despise  my- 
self were  I  to  attempt  it,"  he  wrote  certain  of  his  constituents 
who  were  anxious  that  he  should  attempt  to  secure  the  nomi- 
nation in  spite  of  his  instructions.  It  was  soon  evident  to 
both  Lincoln  and  Baker  that  John  J.  Hardin  was  probably 
the  strongest  candidate  in  the  district,  and  so  it  proved  when 
the  convention  met  in  May,  1843,  at  Pekin. 

It  has  frequently  been  charged  that  in  this  Pekin  conven- 
tion, Hardin,  Baker,  and  Lincoln  agreed  to  take  in  turn  the 
three  next  nominations  to  Congress,  thus  establishing  a  spe- 
cies of  rotation  in  office.  This  charge  cannot  be  sustained. 
What  occurred  at  the  Pekin  convention  is  here  related  by 
one  of  the  delegates,  the  Hon.  J.  M.  Ruggles  of  Havana, 
Illinois. 

"When  the  convention  assembled,"  writes  Mr.  Ruggles, 
"Baker  was  there  with  his  friend  and  champion  delegate, 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  ayes  and  noes  had  been  taken,  and 
there  were  fifteen  votes  apiece,  and  one  in  doubt  that  had  not 
arrived.  That  was  myself.  I  was  known  to  be  a  warm 
friend  of  Baker,  representing  people  who  were  partial  to 
Hardin.  As  soon  as  I  arrived  Baker  hurried  to  me,  saying : 
'How  is  it?  It  all  depends  on  you/  On  being  told  that  not- 
withstanding my  partiality  for  him,  the  people  I  represented 
expected  me  to  vote  for  Hardin,  and  that  I  would  have  to 
do  so,  Baker  at  once  replied:  'You  are  right — there  is  no 
other  way/  The  convention  was  organized,  and  I  was  elected 
secretary.  Baker  immediately  arose,  and  made  a  most  thrill- 
ing address,  thoroughly  arousing  the  sympathies  of  the  con- 
vention, and  ended  by  declining  his  candidacy.  Hardin  was 
nominated  by  acclamation ;  and  then  came  the  episode. 

"Immediately  after  the  nomination,  Mr.  Lincoln  walked 
across  the  room  to  my  table,  and  asked  if  I  would  favor  a 
resolution  recommending  Baker  for  the  next  term.  On  be- 


196  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ing  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  said:  'You  prepare  the 
resolution,  I  will  support  it,  and  I  think  we  can  pass  it.'  The 
resolution  created  a  profound  sensation,  especially  with  the 
friends  of  Hardin.  After  an  excited  and  angry  discussion, 
the  resolution  passed  by  a  majority  of  one." 

Lincoln  supported  Hardin  energetically  in  the  campaign 
which  followed.  In  a  letter  to  the  former  written  on  May 
nth,  just  after  the  convention,  he  says: 

"Butler  informs  me  that  he  received  a  letter  from  you  in 
which  you  expressed  some  doubt  as  to  whether  the  Whigs  of 
Sangamon  will  support  you  cordially.  You  may  at  once  dis- 
miss all  fears  on  that  subject.  We  have  already  resolved  to 
make  a  particular  effort  to  give  you  the  very  largest  majority 
possible  in  our  county.  From  this  no  Whig  of  the  county 
dissents.  We  have  many  objects  for  doing  it.  We  make  it 
a  matter  of  honor  and  pride  to  do  it ;  we  do  it  because  we  love 
the  Whig  cause;  we  do  it  because  we  like  you  personally; 
and,  last,  we  wish  to  convince  you  that  we  do  not  bear  that 
hatred  to  Morgan  County  that  you  people  have  seemed  so 
long  to  imagine.  You  will  see  by  the  'Journal'  of  this  week 
that  we  propose,  upon  pain  of  losing  a  barbecue,  to  give  you 
twice  as  great  a  majority  in  this  county  as  you  shall  receive 
in  your  own.  I  got  up  the  proposal." 

Lincoln  was  true  to  his  promise  and  after  Hardin  was 
elected  and  in  Washington  he  kept  him  informed  of  much 
that  went  on  in  the  district ;  thus  in  an  amusing  letter  written 
in  May,  1844,  while  the  latter  was  in  Congress,  he  tells  him 
of  one  disgruntled  constituent  who  must  be  pacified,  giving 
him,  at  the  same  time,  a  hint  as  to  the  temper  of  the  "Loco- 
focos." 

"Knowing  that  you  have  correspondents  enough,  I  have 
forborne  to  trouble  you  heretofore,"  he  writes;  "and  I  now 
only  do  so  to  get  you  to  set  a  matter  right  which  has  got 
wrong  with  one  of  our  best  friends.  It  is  old  Uncle  Thomas 
Campbell  of  Spring  Creek  (Berlin  P.  O.).  He  has  received 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS    197 

several  documents  from  you,  and  he  says  they  are  old  news- 
papers and  old  documents,  having  no  sort  of  interest  in  them. 
He  is,  therefore,  getting  a  strong  impression  that  you  treat 
him  with  disrespect.  This,  I  know,  is  a  mistaken  impres- 
sion, and  you  must  correct  it.  The  way,  I  leave  to  yourself. 
Robert  W.  Canfield  says  he  would  like  to  have  a  document 
or  two  from  you. 

"The  Locos  here  are  in  considerable  trouble  about  Van 
Buren's  letter  on  Texas,  and  the  Virginia  electors.  They  are 
growing  sick  of  the  tariff  question,  and  consequently  are 
much  confounded  at  Van  Buren's  cutting  them  off  from  the 
new  Texas  question.  Nearly  half  the  leaders  swear  they 
won't  stand  it.  Of  those  are  Ford,  T.  Campbell,  Ewing, 
Calhoun,  and  others.  They  don't  exactly  say  they  won't  go 
for  Van  Buren,  but  they  say  he  will  not  be  the  candidate,  and 
that  they  are  for  Texas  anyhow." 

The  resolution  passed  at  the  Pekin  convention  in  1843  was 
remembered  and  respected  by  the  Whigs  when  the  time  came 
to  nominate  Hardin's  successor.  Baker  was  selected  and 
elected,  Lincoln  working  for  him  as  loyally  as  he  had  for 
Hardin.  In  this  campaign — that  of  1844 — Lincoln  was  a 
presidential  elector.  He  went  into  the  canvass  with  unusual 
ardor  for  Henry  Clay  was  the  candidate  and  Lincoln  shared 
the  popular  idolatry  of  the  man.  His  devotion  was  not 
merely  a  sentiment,  however.  He  had  been  an  intelligent 
student  of  Clay's  public  life,  and  his  sympathy  was  all  with 
the  principles  of  the  "gallant  Harry  of  the  West."  Through- 
out the  campaign  he  worked  zealously,  travelling  all  over  the 
State,  speaking  and  talking.  As  a  rule,  he  was  accompanied 
by  a  Democrat.  The  two  went  unannounced,  simply  stop- 
ping at  some  friendly  house.  On  their  arrival  the  word  was 
sent  around,  "the  candidates  are  here,"  and  the  men  of  the 
neighborhood  gathered  to  hear  the  discussion,  which  was  car- 
ried on  in  the  most  informal  way,  the  candidates  frequently 
sitting  tipped  back  against  the  side  of  the  house,  or  perched 
on  a  rail,  whittling  during  the  debates.  Nor  was  all  of  this 


198  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

electioneering  done  by  argument.  Many  votes  were  still 
cast  in  Illinois  out  of  personal  liking,  and  the  wily  candidate 
did  his  best  to  make  himself  agreeable,  particularly  to  the 
women  of  the  household.  The  Hon.  William  L.  D.  Ewing, 
a  Democrat  who  travelled  with  Lincoln  in  one  campaign, 
used  to  tell  a  story  of  how  he  and  Lincoln  were  eager  to 
win  the  favor  of  one  of  their  hostesses,  whose  husband  was 
an  important  man  in  his  neighborhood.  Neither  had  made 
much  progress  until  at  milking-time  Mr.  Ewing  started  after 
the  woman  of  the  house  as  she  went  to  the  yard,  took  her 
pail,  and  insisted  on  milking  the  cow  himself.  He  naturally 
felt  that  this  was  a  master  stroke.  But  receiving  no  reply 
from  the  hostess,  to  whom  he  had  been  talking  loudly  as  he 
milked,  he  looked  around,  only  to  see  her  and  Lincoln  lean- 
ing comfortably  over  the  bars,  engaged  in  an  animated  dis- 
cussion. By  the  time  he  had  completed  his  self-imposed  task, 
Lincoln  had  captivated  the  hostess,  and  all  Mr.  Ewing  re- 
ceived for  his  pains  was  hearty  thanks  for  giving  her  a 
chance  to  have  so  pleasant  a  talk  with  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Lincoln's  speeches  at  this  time  were  not  confined  to  his 
own  State.  He  made  several  in  Indiana,  being  invited 
thither  by  prominent  Whig  politicians  who  had  heard  him 
speak  in  Illinois.  The  first  and  most  important  of  his  meet- 
ings in  Indiana  was  at  Bruceville.  The  Democrats,  learning 
'of  the  proposed  Whig  gathering,  arranged  one,  for  the  same 
evening,  with  Lieutenant  William  W.  Carr  of  Vincennes  as 
speaker.  As  might  have  been  expected  from  the  excited 
state  of  politics  at  the  moment,  the  proximity  of  the  two 
mass-meetings  aroused  party  loyalty  to  a  fighting  pitch. 
"Each  party  was  determined  to  break  up  the  other's  speak- 
ing," writes  Miss  O'Flynn,  in  a  description  of  the  Bruceville 
meeting  prepared  from  interviews  with  those  who  took  part 
in  it.  "The  night  was  made  hideous  with  the  rattle  of  tin 
pans  and  bells  and  the  blare  of  cow-horns.  In  spite  of  all 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS   199 

the  din  and  uproar  of  the  younger  element,  a  few  grown-up 
male  radicals  and  partisan  women  sang  and  cheered  loudly 
for  their  favorites,  who  kept  on  with  their  flow  of  political 
information.  Lieutenant  Carr  stood  in  his  carriage,  and  ad- 
dressed the  crowd  around  him,  while  a  local  politician  acted 
0.6  grand  marshal  of  the  night,  and  urged  the  yelling  Demo- 
cratic legion  to  surge  to  the  schoolhouse,  where  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  speaking,  and  run  the  Whigs  from  their  head- 
quarters. Old  men  now  living,  who  were  big  boys  then,  can- 
not remember  any  of  the  burning  eloquence  of  either  speaker. 
As  they  now  laughingly  express  it:  'We  were  far  more  in- 
terested in  the  noise  than  the  success  of  the  speakers,  and  we 
ran  backward  and  forward  from  one  camp  to  the  other/  ' 

Fortunately,  the  remaining  speeches  in  Indiana  were  made 
under  more  dignified  conditions.  One  was  delivered  at 
Rockport;  another  "from  the  door  of  a  harness  shop"  near 
Gentryville,  Lincoln's  old  home  in  Indiana;  and  a  third  at 
the  "Old  Carter  School"  in  the  same  neighborhood.  At  the 
delivery  of  the  last  many  of  Lincoln's  old  neighbors  were 
present,  and  they  still  tell  of  the  cordial  way  in  which  he 
greeted  them  and  inquired  for  old  friends.  After  his  speech 
he  drove  home  with  Mr.  Josiah  Crawford,  for  whom  he  had 
once  worked  as  a  day  laborer.  His  interest  in  every  familiar 
spot — a  saw-pit  where  he  had  once  worked — the  old  swim- 
ming pool,  the  town  grocery,  the  mill,  the  blacksmith  shop, 
surprised  and  flattered  everybody.  "He  went  round  inspect- 
ing everything,"  declares  one  of  his  hosts.  So  vivid  were 
the  memories  which  this  visit  to  Gentryville  aroused,  so  deep 
were  Lincoln's  emotions,  that  he  even  attempted  to  express 
them  in  verse.  A  portion  of  the  lines  he  wrote  have  been 
preserved,  the  only  remnants  of  his  various  early  attempts 
at  versification. 

In  this  campaign  of  1844  Lincoln  for  the  second  time  in 
his  political  life  met  the  slavery  question.  The  chief  issue  of 


200  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

that  campaign  was  the  annexation  of  Texas.  The  Whigs, 
under  Clay's  leadership,  opposed  it.  To  annex  Texas  with- 
out the  consent  of  Mexico  would  compromise  our  national 
reputation  for  fair  dealing,  Clay  argued;  it  would  bring  on 
war  with  Mexico,  destroy  the  existing  relations  between 
North  and  South  and  compel  the  North  to  annex  Canada, 
and  it  would  tend  to  extend  rather  than  restrict  slavery. 

A  large  party  of  strong  anti-slavery  people  in  the  North 
felt  that  Clay  did  not  give  enough  importance  to  the  anti- 
slavery  argument  and  they  nominated  a  third  candidate, 
James  G.  Birney.  This  "Liberal  Party"  as  it  was  called,  had 
a  fair  representation  in  Illinois  and  Lincoln  must  have  en- 
countered them  frequently,  though  what  arguments  he  used 
against  them,  if  any,  we  do  not  know,  no  extracts  of  his  1844 
speeches  being  preserved. 

The  next  year,  1845,  ne  found  the  abolition  sentiment 
stronger  than  ever.  Prominent  among  the  leaders  of  the 
third  party  in  the  State  were  two  brothers,  Williamson  and 
Madison  Durley  of  Hennepin,  Illinois.  They  were  outspo- 
ken advocates  of  their  principles,  and  even  operated  a  sta- 
tion of  the  underground  railroad.  Lincoln  knew  the  Dur- 
leys,  and,  when  visiting  Hennepin  to  speak,  solicited  their 
support.  They  opposed  their  liberty  principles.  When  Lin- 
coln returned  to  Springfield  he  wrote  Williamson  Durley  a 
letter  which  sets  forth  with  admirable  clearness  his  exact 
position  on  the  slavery  question  at  that  period.  It  is  the 
most  valuable  document  on  the  question  which  we  have  up 
to  this  point  in  Lincoln's  life. 

"When  I  saw  you  at  home/*  Lincoln  began,  "it  was  agreed 
that  I  should  write  to  you  and  your  brother  Madison.  Until 
I  then  saw  you  I  was  not  aware  of  your  being  what  is  gen- 
erally called  an  Abolitionist,  or,  as  you  call  yourself,  a  Lib- 
erty man,  though  I  well  knew  there  were  many  such  in  your 
county. 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS  2Ot 

"I  was  glad  to  hear  that  you  intended  to  attempt  to  bring 
about,  at  the  next  election  in  Putnam,  a  union  of  the  Whigs 
proper  and  such  of  the  Liberty  men  as  are  Whigs  in  principle 
on  all  questions  save  only  that  of  slavery.  So  far  as  I  can 
perceive,  by  such  union  neither  party  need  yield  anything  on 
the  point  in  difference  between  them.  If  the  Whig  abolition- 
ists of  New  York  had  voted  with  us  last  fall,  Mr.  Clay  would 
now  be  President,  Whig  principles  in  the  ascendant,  and 
Texas  not  annexed ;  whereas,  by  the  division,  all  that  either 
had  at  stake  in  the  contest  was  lost.  And,  indeed,  it  was  ex- 
tremely probable,  beforehand,  that  such  would  be  the  result. 
As  I  always  understood,  the  Liberty  men  deprecated  the  an- 
nexation of  Texas  extremely;  and  this  being  so,  why  they 
should  refuse  to  cast  their  votes  (so)  as  to  prevent  it,  even 
to  me  seemed  wonderful.  What  was  their  process  of  rea- 
soning, I  can  only  judge  from  what  a  single  one  of  them  told 
me.  It  was  this :  'We  are  not  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come/ 
This  general  proposition  is  doubtless  correct;  but  did  it  ap- 
ply? If  by  your  votes  you  could  have  prevented  the  exten- 
sion, etc.,  of  slavery,  would  it  not  have  been  good,  and  not 
evil,  so  to  have  used  your  votes,  even  though  it  involved  the 
casting  of  them  for  a  slave-holder  ?  By  the  fruit  the  tree  is 
to  be  known.  An  evil  tree  cannot  bring  forth  good  fruit.  If 
the  fruit  of  electing  Mr.  Clay  would  have  been  to  prevent  the 
extension  of  slavery,  could  the  act  of  electing  have  been  evil  ? 

"But  I  will  not  argue  further.  I  perhaps  ought  to  say  that 
individually  I  never  was  much  interested  in  the  Texas  ques- 
tion. I  never  could  see  much  good  to  come  of  annexation, 
inasmuch  as  they  were  already  a  free  republican  people  on 
our  own  model.  On  the  other  hand,  I  never  could  very 
clearly  see  how  the  annexation  would  augment  the  evil  of 
slavery.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  slaves  would  be  taken 
there  in  about  equal  numbers,  with  or  without  annexation. 
And  if  more  were  taken  because  of  annexation,  still  there 
would  be  just  so  many  the  fewer  left  where  they  were  taken 
from.  It  is  possibly  true,  to  some  extent,  that,  with  annexa- 
tion, some  slaves  may  be  sent  to  Texas  and  continued  in 
slavery  that  otherwise  might  have  been  liberated.  To  what- 
ever extent  this  may  be  true,  I  think  annexation  an  evil.  I 
hold  it  to  be  a  paramount  duty  of  us  in  the  free  States,  due 
to  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  perhaps  to  liberty  itself 


203  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

(paradox  though  it  may  seem) ,  to  let  the  slavery  of  the  other 
States  alone ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  I  hold  it  to  be  equally 
clear  that  we  should  never  knowingly  lend  ourselves,  directly 
ar  indirectly,  to  prevent  that  slavery  from  dying  a  natural 
death — to  find  new  places  for  it  to  live  in,  when  it  can  no 
longer  exist  in  the  old.  Of  course  I  am  not  now  consider- 
ing what  would  be  our  duty  in  cases  of  insurrection  among 
the  slaves.  To  recur  to  the  Texas  question,  I  understand  the 
Liberty  men  to  have  viewed  annexation  as  a  much  greater 
evil  than  ever  I  did;  and  I  would  like  to  convince  you,  if  I 
could,  that  they  could  have  prevented  it,  without  violation  of 
principle,  if  they  had  chosen." 

At  the  time  that  Lincoln  wrote  the  above  letter  to  the 
Durley  brothers  he  was  working  for  a  nomination  to  Con- 
gress. In  1843  ne  nac^  helped  elect  his  friend  Hardin.  He 
had  secured  the  nomination  for  Baker  in  1844  and  had 
worked  faithfully  to  elect  him.  Now  he  felt  that  his  duty  to 
his  friends  was  discharged  and  that  he  was  free  to  try  for 
himself.  He  undoubtedly  hoped  that  neither  of  his  friends 
would  contest  the  nomination.  Baker  did  not  but  late  in 
1845  ft  became  evident  that  Hardin  might.  Lincoln  was 
worried  over  the  prospect.  "The  paper  at  Pekin  has  nomi- 
nated Hardin  for  governor,"  he  wrote  his  friend  B.  F.  James 
in  November,  "and,  commenting  on  this,  the  Alton  papers 
indirectly  nominated  him  for  Congress.  It  would  give  Har- 
din a  great  start,  and  perhaps  use  me  up,  if  the  Whig  papers 
of  the  district  should  nominate  him  for  Congress.  If  your 
feelings  toward  me  are  the  same  as  when  you  saw  me  (which 
I  have  no  reason  to  doubt),  I  wish  you  would  let  nothing 
appear  in  your  paper  which  may  operate  against  me.  You 
understand.  Matters  stand  just  as  they  did  when  I  saw  you. 
Baker  is  certainly  off  the  track,  and  I  fear  Hardin  intends 
to  be  on  it." 

Hardin  certainly  was  free  to  run  for  Congress  if  he 
wanted  to.  He  had  voluntarily  declined  the  nomination  in 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS  203 

1844,  because  of  the  events  of  the  Pekin  convention,  but  he 
had  made  no  promise  to  do  so  in  1846.  Many  of  the  Whigs 
of  the  district  had  not  expected  him  to  be  a  candidate,  how- 
ever, arguing  that  Lincoln,  because  of  his  relation  to  the 
party,  should  be  given  his  turn.  "We  do  not  entertain  a 
doubt,"  wrote  the  editor  of  the  "Sangamon  Journal,"  in 
February,  1846,  "that  if  we  could  reverse  the  positions  of 
the  two  men,  a  very  large  portion  of  those  who  now  support 
Mr.  Lincoln  most  warmly  would  support  General  Hardin 
quite  as  well. " 

As  time  went  on  and  Lincoln  found  in  all  probability  that 
Hardin  would  enter  the  race,  it  made  him  anxious  and  a 
little  melancholy.  In  writing  to  his  friend  Dr.  Robert  Boal  of 
Lacon,  Illinois,  on  January  7,  1846,  he  said: 

"Since  I  saw  you  last  fall,  I  have  often  thought  of  writing 
you,  as  it  was  then  understood  I  would ;  but,  on  reflection,  I 
have  always  found  that  I  had  nothing  new  to  tell  you.  All 
has  happened  as  I  then  told  you  I  expected  it  would — Baker's 
declining,  Hardin's  taking  the  track,  and  so  on. 

"If  Hardin  and  I  stood  precisely  equal — that  is,  if  neither 
of  us  had  been  to  Congress,  or  if  we  both  had — it  would  not 
only  accord  with  what  I  have  always  done,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  to  give  way  to  him ;  and  I  expect  I  should  do  it.  That 
I  can  voluntarily  postpone  my  pretensions,  when  they  are  no 
more  than  equal  to  those  to  which  they  are  postponed,  you 
have  yourself  seen.  But  to  yield  to  Hardin  under  present 
circumstances  seems  to  me  as  nothing  else  than  yielding  to 
one  who  would  gladly  sacrifice  me  altogether.  This  I  would 
rather  not  submit  to.  That  Hardin  is  talented,  energetic, 
unusually  generous  and  magnanimous,  I  have,  before  this, 
affirmed  to  you,  and  do  not  now  deny.  You  know  that  my 
only  argument  is  that  'turn  about  is  fair  play/  This  he,  prac- 
tically at  least,  denies. 

"If  it  would  not  be  taxing  you  too  much,  I  wish  you  would 
write  me,  telling  the  aspect  of  things  in  your  county,  or 
rather  your  district ;  and  also  send  the  names  of  some  of  your 
Whig  neighbors  to  whom  I  mightA  with  propriety,  write, 


204  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Unless  I  can  get  some  one  to  do  this,  Hardin,  with  his  oH 
franking  list,  will  have  the  advantage  of  me.  My  reliance 
for  a  fair  shake  (and  I  want  nothing  more)  in  your  county 
is  chiefly  on  you,  because  of  your  position  and  standing,  and 
because  I  am  acquainted  with  so  few  others.  Let  me  hear 
from  you  soon." 

Lincoln  followed  the  vibrations  of  feeling  in  the  various 
counties  with  extreme  nicety,  studying  every  individual 
whose  loyalty  he  suspected  or  whose  vote  was  not  yet 
pledged.  "Nathan  Dresser  is  here,"  he  wrote  to  his  friend 
Bennett,  on  January  15,  1846,  "and  speaks  as  though  the 
contest  between  Hardin  and  me  is  to  be  doubtful  in  Menard 
county.  I  know  he  is  candid,  and  this  alarms  me  some.  I 
asked  him  to  tell  me  the  names  of  the  men  that  were  going 
strong  for  Hardin;  he  said  Morris  was  about  as  strong  as 
any.  Now  tell  me,  is  Morris  going  it  openly  ?  You  remem- 
ber you  wrote  me  that  he  would  be  neutral.  Nathan  also 
said  that  some  man  (who  he  could  not  remember)  had  said 
lately  that  Menard  county  was  again  to  decide  the  contest, 
and  that  made  the  contest  very  doubtful.  Do  you  know  who 
that  was  ? 

"Don't  fail  me  to  write  me  instantly  on  receiving,  telling 
me  all — particularly  the  names  of  those  who  are  going  strong 
against  me." 

In  January,  General  Hardin  suggested  that  since  he  and 
Lincoln  were  the  only  persons  mentioned  as  candidates,  there 
be  no  convention,  but  the  selection  be  left  to  the  Whig  voters 
of  the  district.  Lincoln  refused. 

"It  seems  to  me,"  he  wrote  Hardin,  "that  on  reflection  you 
will  see  the  fact  of  your  having  been  in  Congress  has,  in 
various  ways,  so  spread  your  name  in  the  district  as  to  give 
you  a  decided  advantage  in  such  a  stipulation.  I  appreciate 
your  desire  to  keep  down  excitement ;  and  I  promise  you  to 
'keep  cooF  under  all  circumstances.  ...  I  have  always 
been  in  the  habit  of  acceding  to  almost  any  proposal  tlr^t  a 


BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS  205 

friend  would  make,  and  I  am  truly  sorry  that  I  cannot  in 
this.  I  perhaps  ought  to  mention  that  some  friends  at  dif- 
ferent places  are  endeavoring  to  secure  the  honor  of  the  sit- 
ting of  the  convention  at  their  towns  respectively,  and  I  fear 
that  they  would  riot  feel  much  complimented  if  we  shall 
make  a  bargain  that  it  should  sit  nowhere." 

After  General  Hardin  received  this  refusal  he  withdrew 
from  the  contest,  in  a  manly  and  generous  letter  which  was 
warmly  approved  by  the  Whigs  of  the  district.  Both  men 
were  so  much  loved  that  a  break  between  them  would  have 
been  a  disastrous  thing  for  the  party.  "We  are  truly  glad 
that  a  contest  which  in  its  nature  was  calculated  to  weaken 
the  ties  of  friendship  has  terminated  amicably,"  said  the 
Sangamon  "  Journal." 

The  charge  that  Hardin,  Baker,  and  Lincoln  tried  to 
ruin  one  another  in  this  contest  for  Congress  has  often 
been  denied  by  their  associates,  and  never  more  em- 
phatically than  by  Judge  Gillespie,  an  influential  politician  of 
the  State.  "Hardin,"  Judge  Gillespie  says,  "was  one  of  the 
most  unflinching  and  unfaltering  Whigs  that  ever  drew  the 
breath  of  life.  He  was  a  mirror  of  chivalry,  and  so  was 
Baker.  Lincoln  had  boundless  respect  for,  and  confidence  in, 
them  both.  He  knew  they  would  sacrifice  themselves  rather 
than  do  an  act  that  could  savor  in  the  slightest  degree  of 
meanness  or  dishonor.  These  men,  Lincoln,  Hardin  and 
Baker,  were  bosom  friends,  to  my  certain  knowledge.  .  . 
Lincoln  felt  that  they  could  be  actuated  by  nothing  but  the 
most  honorable  sentiments  towards  him.  For  although  they 
were  rivals,  they  were  all  three  men  of  the  most  punctilious 
honor,  and  devoted  friends.  I  knew  them  intimately,  and 
can  say  confidently  that  there  never  was  a  particle  of  envy  on 
the  part  of  one  towards  the  other.  The  rivalry  between  them 
was  of  the  most  honorable  and  friendly  character,  and  when 
Hardin  and  Baker  were  killed  (Hardin  in  Mexico,  and  Baker 


206  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

at  Ball's  Bluff)  Lincoln  felt  that  in  the  death  of  each  he  had 
lost  a  dear  and  true  friend." 

After  Har din's  withdrawal,  Lincoln  went  about  in  his 
characteristic  way  trying  to  soothe  his  and  Hardin's  friends. 
"Previous  to  General  Hardin's  withdrawal,"  he  wrote  one  of 
his  correspondents,  "some  of  his  friends  and  some  of  mine 
had  become  a  little  warm ;  and  I  felt  .  .  .  that  for  them 
now  to  meet  face  to  face  and  converse  together  was  the  best 
Woy  to  efface  any  remnant  of  unpleasant  feeling,  if  any  such 
exitted.  I  did  not  suppose  that  General  Hardin's  friends 
were  in  any  greater  need  of  having  their  feelings  corrected 
than  mine  were." 

In  May,  Lincoln  was  nominated.  His  Democratic  oppo- 
nent was  Peter  Cartwright,  the  famous  Methodist  exhorter, 
the  most  famous  itinerant  preacher  of  the  pioneer  era.  Cart- 
wright  had  moved  from  Kentucky  to  Illinois  when  still  a 
young  man  to  get  into  a  free  State,  and  had  settled  in  the 
Sangamon  valley,  near  Springfield.  For  the  next  forty  years 
he  travelled  over  the  State,  most  of  the  time  on  horseback, 
preaching  the  gospel  in  his  unique  and  rugged  fashion.  His 
district  was  at  first  so  large  (extending  from  Kaskaskia  to 
Galena)  that  he  was  unable  to  traverse  the  whole  of  it  in  the 
same  year.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1828  and 
again  in  1832 ;  Lincoln,  in  the  latter  year,  being  an  opposing 
candidate.  In  1840  when  he  was  the  Democratic  nominee 
for  Congress  against  Lincoln  he  was  badly  beaten.  Cart- 
wright  now  made  an  energetic  canvass,  his  chief  weapon 
against  Lincoln  being  the  old  charges  of  atheism  and  aris- 
tocracy; but  they  failed  of  effect,  and  in  August,  Lincoln 
was  elected 

The  contest  over,  sudden  and  characteristic  disillusion 
seized  him.  "  Being  elected  to  Congress,  though  I  am  grate- 
ful to  our  friends  for  having  done  it,  has  not  pleased  me  as 
much  as  I  expected,"  he  wrote  Speed. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

LINCOLN  IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847 — HE  OPPOSES  THE  MEXI- 
CAN    WAR — CAMPAIGNING    IN     NEW    ENGLAND 

IN  November,  1847,  Lincoln  started  for  Washington.  The 
city  in  1848  was  little  more  than  the  outline  of  the  Washing- 
ton of  1899.  The  capitol  was  without  the  present  wings, 
dome,  or  western  terrace.  The  White  House,  the  City  Hall, 
the  Treasury,  the  Patent  Office,  and  the  Post-Office  were  the 
only  public  buildings  standing  then  which  have  not  been  re- 
built or  materially  changed.  The  streets  were  unpaved,  and 
their  dust  in  summer  and  mud  in  winter  are  celebrated  in 
every  record  of  the  period.  The  parks  and  circles  were  still 
unplanted.  Near  the  White  House  were  a  few  fine  old  homes, 
and  Capitol  Hill  was  partly  built  over.  Although  there  were 
deplorable  wastes  between  these  two  points,  the  majority  of 
the  people  lived  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  city,  on  or 
near  Pennsylvania  avenue.  The  winter  that  Lincoln  was  in 
Washington,  Daniel  Webster  lived  on  Louisiana  avenue, 
near  Sixth  street;  Speaker  Winthrop  and  Thomas  H.  Ben- 
ton  on  C  street,  near  Third;  John  Quincy  Adams  and  James 
Buchanan,  the  latter  then  Secretary  of  State,  on  F  street,  be- 
tween Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth.  Many  of  the  senators  and 
congressmen  were  in  hotels,  the  leading  ones  of  which  were 
Willard's,  Coleman's,  Gadsby's,  Brown's,  Young's,  Fuller's, 
and  the  United  States.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  in 
Washington  for  his  first  term  as  senator,  lived  at  Willard's. 
So  inadequate  were  the  hot-el  accommodations  during  the  ses- 
sions that  visitors  to  the  town  were  frequently  obliged  to  ac- 
cept most  uncomfortable  makeshifts  for  beds.  Seward,  vis- 

207 


208  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

iting  the  city  in  1847,  tells  of  sleeping  on  "a  cot  between  two 
beds  occupied  by  strangers." 

The  larger  number  of  members  lived  in  "messes/'  a  species 
of  boarding-club,  over  which  the  owner  of  the  house  occupied 
usually  presided.  The  "National  Intelligencer"  of  the  day  is 
sprinkled  with  announcements  of  persons  "prepared  to  ac- 
commodate a  mess  of  members."  Lincoln  went  to  live  in  one 
of  the  best  known  of  these  clubs,  Mrs.  Spriggs's,  in  "Duff 
Green's  Row,"  on  Capitol  Hill.  This  famous  row  has  now 
entirely  disappeared,  the  ground  on  which  it  stood  being  oc- 
cupied by  the  Congressional  Library. 

At  Mrs.  Spriggs's,  Lincoln  had  as  mess-mates  several 
congressmen :  A.  R.  Mcllvaine,  James  Pollock,  John  Strohm, 
and  John  Blanchard,  all  of  Pennsylvania,  Patrick  Tompkins 
of  Mississippi,  Joshua  R.  Giddings  of  Ohio,  and  Elisha  Em- 
bree  of  Indiana.  Among  his  neighbors  in  messes  on  Capitol 
Hill  were  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  of  Georgia,  and  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi. 
One  of  the  members  of  the  mess  at  Mrs.  Spriggs's  in  the  win- 
ter of  1847-1848  was  Dr.  S.  C.  Busey  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  I  soon  learned  to  know  and  admire  Lincoln,"  says  Dr. 
Busey  in  his  "  Personal  Reminiscences  and  Recollections," 
"  for  his  simple  and  unostentatious  manners,  kind-hearted- 
ness, and  amusing  jokes,  anecdotes,  and  witticisms.  When 
about  to  tell  an  anecdote  during  a  meal  he  would  lay  down 
his  knife  and  fork,  place  his  elbows  upon  the  table,  rest  his 
face  between  his  hands,  and  begin  with  the  words,  '  That  re- 
minds me/  and  proceed.  Everybody  prepared  for  the  ex- 
plosion sure  to  follow.  I  recall  with  vivid  pleasure  the  scene 
of  merriment  at  the  dinner  after  his  first  speech  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  occasioned  by  the  descriptions,  by  him- 
self and  others  of  the  congressional  mess,  of  the  uproar  in 
the  House  during  its  delivery. 

"Congressman  Lincoln  was  always  neatly  but  very  plainly 
dressed,  very  simple  and  approachable  in  manner,  and  unpre- 


JN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  209 

tentious.  He  attended  to  his  business,  going  promptly  to  the 
House  and  remaining  till  the  session  adjourned,  and  ap- 
peared to  be  familiar  with  the  progress  of  legislation." 

The  town  offered  then  little  in  the  way  of  amusement.  The 
Adelphi  theater  was  opened  that  winter  for  the  first  time,  and 
presented  a  variety  of  mediocre  plays.  At  the  Olympia  were 
"lively  and  beautiful  exhibitions  of  model  artists."  Herz  and 
Sivori,  the  pianists,  then  touring  in  the  United  States,  played 
several  times  in  the  season ;  and  there  was  a  Chinese  museum. 
Add  the  exhibitions  of  Brown's  paintings  of  the  heroes  of 
Palo  Alto,  Resaca,  Monterey,  and  Buena  Vista,  and  of  Pow- 
ers's  "Greek  Slave,"  the  performances  of  Dr.  Valentine,  "De- 
lineator of  Eccentricities,"  a  few  lectures,  and  numerous 
church  socials,  and  you  have  about  all  there  was  in  the  way 
of  public  entertainments  in  Washington  in  1848.  But  of  din- 
ners, receptions,  and  official  gala  affairs  there  were  many. 
Lincoln's  name  appears  frequently  in  the  "National  Intelli- 
gencer" on  committees 'to  offer  dinners  to  this  or  that  great 
man.  In  the  spring  of  1849  he  was  one  of  the  managers  of 
the  inaugural  ball  given  to  Taylor.  His  friend  Washburn  re- 
calls an  amusing  incident  of  Lincoln  at  this  ball.  "A  small 
number  of  mutual  friends,"  says  Mr.  Washburn,  "including 
Mr.  Lincoln,  made  up  a  party  to  attend  the  inauguration  ball 
together.  It  was  by  far  the  most  brilliant  inauguration  ball 
ever  given.  Of  course  Mr.  Lincoln  had  never  seen  anything 
of  the  kind  before.  One  of  the  most  modest  and  unpretend- 
ing persons  present,  he  could  not  have  dreamed  that  like  hon- 
ors were  to  come  to  him,  almost  within  a  little  more  than  a 
decade.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  all  that  was  to  be  seen, 
and  we  did  not  take  our  departure  until  three  or  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  When  we  went  to  the  cloak  and  hat  room, 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  trouble  in  finding  his  short  cloak,  which 
little  more  than  covered  his  shoulders,  but,  after  a  long 
search  was  unable  to  find  his  hat.  After  an  hour  he  gave  up 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

all  idea  of  finding  it.  Taking  his  cloak  on  his  arm,  he  walked 
out  into  Judiciary  square,  deliberately  adjusting  it  on  his 
shoulders,  and  started  off  bare-headed  for  his  lodgings.  It 
would  be  hard  to  forget  the  sight  of  that  tall  and  slim  man, 
with  his  short  cloak  thrown  over  his  shoulders,  starting  for 
his  long  walk  home  on  Capitol  Hill,  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  without  any  hat  on." 

Another  reminiscence  of  his  homely  and  independent  ways 
comes  from  the  librarian  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  that  pe- 
riod, through  Lincoln's  friend,  Washburn.  Mr.  Lincoln,  the 
story  goes,  came  to  the  library  one  day  for  the  purpose  of 
procuring  some  law  books  which  he  wanted  to  take  to  his 
room  for  examination.  Getting  together  all  the  books  he 
wanted,  he  placed  them  in  a  pile  on  a  table.  Taking  a  large 
bandana  handkerchief  from  his  pocket,  he  tied  them  up,  and 
putting  a  stick  which  he  had  brought  with  him  through  a 
knot  he  had  made  in  the  handkerchief,  he  shouldered  the 
package  and  marched  off  from  the  library  to  his  room.  In 
a  few  days  he  returned  the  books  in  the  same  way. 

Lincoln's  simple,  sincere  friendliness  and  his  quaint  humor 
soon  won  him  a  sure,  if  quiet,  social  position  in  Washington. 
He  was  frequently  invited  to  Mr.  Webster's  Saturday  break- 
fasts, where  his  stories  were  highly  relished  for  their  origi- 
nality and  drollery.  Dr.  Busey  recalls  his  popularity  at  one 
of  the  leading  places  of  amusement  on  Capitol  Hill. 

"Congressman  Lincoln  was  very  fond  of  bowling,"  he 
says,  "and  would  frequently  join  others  of  the  mess,  or  meet 
other  members  in  a  match  game,  at  the  alley  of  James  Cas- 
paris,  which  was  near  the  boarding-house.  He  was  a  very 
awkward  bowler,  but  played  the  game  with  great  zest  and 
spirit,  solely  for  exercise  and  amusement,  and  greatly  to  the 
enjoyment  and  entertainment  of  the  other  players  and  by- 
standers by  his  criticisms  and  funny  illustrations.  He  ac- 
cepted success  and  defeat  with  like  good  nature  and  humor, 
and  left  the  alley  at  the  conclusion  of  the  srame  without  a 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  211 

sorrow  or  disappointment  When  it  was  known  that  he  was 
in  the  alley,  there  would  assemble  numbers  of  people  to  wit- 
ness the  fun  which  was  anticipated  by  those  who  knew  of  his 
fund  of  anecdotes  and  jokes.  When  in  the  alley,  surrounded 
by  a  crowd  of  eager  listeners,  he  indulged  with  great  free- 
dom in  the  sport  of  narrative,  some  of  which  were  very 
broad.  His  witticisms  seemed  for  the  most  part  to  be  im- 
promptu, but  he  always  told  the  anecdotes  and  jokes  as  if  he 
wished  to  convey  the  impression  that  he  had  heard  them 
from  some  one ;  but  they  appeared  very  many  times  as  if  they 
had  been  jnade  for  the  immediate  occasion." 

Another  place  where  he  became  at  home  and  was  much 
appreciated  was  in  the  post-office  at  the  Capitol. 

"During  the  Christmas  holidays,"  says  Ben.  Perley  Poore, 
"  Mr.  Lincoln  found  his  way  into  the  small  room  used  as  the 
post-office  of  the  House,  where  a  few  jovial  raconteurs  used 
to  meet  almost  every  morning,  after  the  mail  had  been  dis- 
tributed into  the  members'  boxes,  to  exchange  such  new 
stories  as  any  of  them  might  have  acquired  since  they  had 
last  met.  After  modestly  standing  at  the  door  for  several 
days,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  reminded  of  a  story,  and  by  New 
Year's  he  was  recognized  as  the  champion  story-teller  of  the 
Capitol.  His  favorite  seat  was  at  the  left  of  the  open  fire- 
place, tilted  back  in  his  chair,  with  his  long  legs  reaching  over 
to  the  chimney  jamb.  He  never  told  a  story  twice,  but  ap- 
peared to  have  an  endless  repertoire  of  them  always  ready, 
like  the  successive  charges  in  a  magazine  gun,  and  always 
pertinently  adapted  to  some  passing  event.  It  was  refresh- 
ing to  us  correspondents,  compelled  as  we  were  to  listen  to 
so  much  that  was  prosy  and  tedious,  to  hear  this  bright  speci- 
men of  western  genius  tell  his  inimitable  stories,  especially 
his  reminiscences  of  the  Black  Hawk  war." 

But  Lincoln  had  gone  to  Washington  for  work,  and  he  at 
once  interested  himself  in  the  Whig  organization  formed  to 
elect  the  officers  of  the  House.  There  was  only  a  small  Whig 
majority,  and  it  took  skill  and  energy  to  keep  the  offices  in 


212  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  party.  Lincoln's  share  in  achieving  this  result  was  gen- 
erally recognized.  As  late  as  1860,  twelve  years  after  the 
struggle,  Robert  C.  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  who  was 
elected  speaker,  said  in  a  speech  in  Boston  wherein  he  dis- 
cussed Lincoln's  nomination  to  the  Presidency:  "You  will 
be  sure  that  I  remember  him  with  interest,  if  I  may  be  al- 
lowed to  remind  you  that  he  helped  to  make  me  the  speaker 
of  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  when  the  vote  was  a  very  close 
and  strongly  contested  vote." 

A  week  after  Congress  organized,  Lincoln  wrote  to 
Springfield:  "As  you  are  all  so  anxious  for  me  to  distin- 
guish myself,  I  have  concluded  to  do  so  before  long;"  and  he 
did  it — but  not  exactly  as  his  Springfield  friends  wished.  The 
United  States  was  then  at  war  with  Mexico,  a  war  that  the 
Whigs  abhorred.  Lincoln  had  used  his  influence  against  it ; 
but,  hostilities  declared,  he  had  publicly  affirmed  that  every 
loyal  man  must  stand  by  the  army.  Many  of  his  friends, 
Hardin,  Baker,  and  Shields,  among  others,  were  at  that  mo- 
ment in  Mexico.  Lincoln  had  gone  to  Washington  intend' 
ing  to  say  nothing  in  opposition  to  the  war.  But  the  admin- 
istration wished  to  secure  from  the  Whigs  not  only  votes  of 
supplies  and  men,  but  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  war  was 
just  and  right.  Lincoln,  with  others  of  his  party  in  Congress, 
refused  his  sanction  and  voted  for  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr. 
Ashburn,  which  declared  that  the  war  had  been  "unnecessa- 
rily and  unconstitutionally"  begun.  On  December  22d  he 
made  his  debut  in  the  House  by  the  famous  "  Spot  Resolu- 
tions," a  series  of  searching  questions  so  clearly  put,  so 
strong  historically  and  logically,  that  they  drove  the  admin- 
istration from  the  "spot"  where  the  war  began,  and  showed 
that  it  had  been  the  aggressor  in  the  conquest.  The  resolu- 
tion ran : — 

"Whereas,  The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his 
message  of  May  n,  1846,  has  declared  that  'the  Mexican 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  213 

Government  not  only  refused  to  receive  him  (the  envoy  of 
the  United  States),  or  to  listen  to  his  propositions,  but,  after 
a  long-continued  series  of  menaces,  has  at  last  invaded  our 
territory  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  fellow-citizens  on  our 
own  soil/ 

"And  again,  in  his  message  of  December  8,  1846,  that '  we 
had  ample  cause  of  war  against  Mexico  long  before  the 
breaking  out  of  hostilities ;  but  even  then  we  forbore  to  take 
redress  into  our  own  hands  until  Mexico  herself  became  the 
aggressor,  by  invading  our  soil  in  hostile  array,  and  shedding 
the  blood  of  our  citizens/ 

"  And  yet  again,  in  his  message  of  December  7,  1847, that 
'  the  Mexican  Government  refused  even  to  hear  the  terms  of 
adjustment  which  he  (our  minister  of  peace)  was  authorized 
to  propose,  and  finally,  under  wholly  unjustifiable  pretexts, 
involved  the  two  countries  in  war,  by  invading  the  territory 
of  the  State  of  Texas,  striking  the  first  blow,  and  shedding 
the  blood  of  our  citizens  on  our  own  soil/ 

"And  whereas,  This  House  is  desirous  to  obtain  a  full 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  which  go  to  establish  whether  the 
particular  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citizens  was  so  shed 
was  or  was  not  at  that  time  our  own  soil :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  be  respectfully  requested  to 
inform  this  House — 

"  First.  Whether  the  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citi- 
zens was  shed,  as  in  his  message  declared,  was  or  was  not 
within  the  territory  of  Spain,  at  least  after  the  treaty  of  1819 
until  the  Mexican  revolution. 

"  Second.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  the  terri- 
tory which  was  wrested  from  Spain  by  the  revolutionary 
Government  of  Mexico. 

"  Third.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  a  settlement 
of  people,  which  settlement  has  existed  ever  since  long  be- 
fore the  Texas  revolution,  and  until  its  inhabitants  fled  be- 
fore the  approach  of  the  United  States  army. 

"  Fourth.  Whether  that  settlement  is  or  is  not  isolated 
from  any  and  all  other  settlements  by  the  Gulf  and  the  Rio 
Grande  on  the  south  and  west,  and  by  wide  uninhabited 
regions  on  the  north  -md  east 


214 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


"  Fifth.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement,  or  a  ma- 
jority of  them,  or  any  of  them,  have  ever  submitted  them- 
selves to  the  government  or  laws  of  Texas  or  of  the  United 
States,  by  consent  or  by  compulsion,  either  by  accepting 
office,  or  voting  at  elections,  or  paying  tax,  or  serving  on 
juries,  or  having  process  served  upon  them,  or  in  any  other 
way. 

"  Sixth.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement  did  or  did 
not  flee  from  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army,  leav- 
ing unprotected  their  homes  and  their  growing  crops,  before 
the  blood  was  shed,  as  in  the  message  stated ;  and  whether  the 
first  blood,  so  shed,  was  or  was  not  shed  within  the  inclosure 
of  one  of  the  people  who  had  thus  fled  from  it. 

"  Seventh.  Whether  our  citizens,  whose  blood  was  shed,  as 
in  his  message  declared,  were  or  were  not,  at  that  time,  armed 
officers  and  soldiers,  sent  into  that  settlement  by  the  military 
order  of  the  President,  through  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"  Eighth.  Whether  the  military  force  of  the  United  States 
was  or  was  not  so  sent  into  that  settlement  after  General 
Taylor  had  more  than  once  intimated  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment that,  in  his  opinion,  no  such  movement  was  necessary  to 
the  defence  or  protection  of  Texas." 

In  January  Lincoln  followed  up  these  resolutions  with  a 
speech  in  support  of  his  position.  His  action  was  much  criti- 
cised in  Illinois,  where  the  sound  of  the  drum  and  the  intoxi- 
cation of  victory  had  completely  turned  attention  from  the 
moral  side  of  the  question,  and  Lincoln  found  himself  obliged 
to  defend  his  position  with  even  Mr.  Herndon,  his  law  part- 
ner, who,  with  many  others,  objected  to  Lincoln's  voting  for 
the  Ashburn  resolution. 

"That  vote,"  wrote  Lincoln  in  answer  to  Mr.  Herndon's 
letter,  "affirms  that  the  war  was  unnecessarily  and  unconsti- 
tutionally commenced  by  the  President ;  and  I  will  stake  my 
life  that  if  you  had  been  in  my  place  you  would  have  voted 
just  as  I  did.  Would  you  have  voted  what  you  felt  and  knew 
to  be  a  lie?  I  know  you  would  not.  Would  you  have  gone 
out  of  the  House — skulked  the  vote?  I  expect  not.  If  you 
had  skulked  one  vote,  you  would  have  had  to  skulk  many 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  215 

more  before  the  end  of  the  session.  Richardson's  resolutions, 
introduced  before  I  made  any  move  or  gave  any  vote  upon 
the  subject,  make  the  direct  question  of  the  justice  of  the 
war ;  so  that  no  man  can  be  silent  if  he  would.  You  are  com- 
pelled to  speak ;  and  your  only  alternative  is  to  tell  the  truth 
Dr  a  lie.  I  cannot  doubt  which  you  would  do. 

"  This  vote  has  nothing  to  do  in  determining  my  votes  on 
the  questions  of  supplies.  I  have  always  intended,  and  still 
intend,  to  vote  supplies ;  perhaps  not  in  the  precise  form  rec- 
ommended by  the  President,  but  in  a  better  form  for  all  pur- 
poses, except  Locofoco  party  purposes."  *  *  * 

This  determination  to  keep  the  wrong  of  the  Mexican  war 
oefore  the  people  even  while  voting  supplies  for  it  Lincoln 
held  to  steadily.  In  May  a  pamphlet  was  sent  him  in  which 
the  author  claimed  that  "in  view  of  all  the  facts"  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  had  committed  no  aggression  in 
Mexico. 

"Not  in  view  of  all  the  facts,"  Lincoln  wrote  him.  "There 
are  facts  which  you  have  kept  out  of  view.  It  is  a  fact  that 
the  United  States  army  in  marching  to  the  Rio  Grande 
marched  into  a  peaceful  Mexican  settlement,  and  frightened 
the  inhabitants  away  from  their  homes  and  their  growing 
crops.  It  is  a  fact  that  Fort  Brown,  opposite  Matamoras,  was 
built  by  that  army  within  a  Mexican  cotton-field,  on  which  at 
the  time  the  army  reached  it  a  young  cotton  crop  was  grow- 
ing, and  which  crop  was  wholly  destroyed  and  the  field  itself 
greatly  and  permanently  injured  by  ditches,  embankments, 
and  the  like.  It  is  a  fact  that  when  the  Mexicans  captured 
Captain  Thornton  and  his  command,  they  found  and  cap- 
tured them  within  another  Mexican  field. 

"  Now  I  wish  to  bring  these  facts  to  your  notice,  and  to  as- 
certain what  is  the  result  of  your  reflections  upon  them.  II 
you  deny  that  they  are  facts,  I  think  I  can  furnish  proofs 
which  shall  convince  you  that  you  are  mistaken.  If  you  ad- 
mit that  they  are  facts,  then  I  shall  be  obliged  for  a  reference 
to  any  law  of  language,  law  of  States,  law  of  nations,  law  of 
morals,  law  of  religions,  any  law,  human  or  divine,  in  which 
an  authority  can  be  found  for  saying  those  facts  constitute 
'No  aggression/ 


2l6  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"Possibly  you  consider  those  acts  too  small  for  notice. 
Would  you  venture  to  so  consider  them  had  they  been  com- 
mitted by  any  nation  on  earth  against  the  humblest  of  our 
people?  I  know  you  would  not.  Then  I  ask,  is  the  precept 
'  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
even  so  to  them  '  obsolete  ?  of  no  force  ?  of  no  application  ?  " 

The  routine  work  assigned  Lincoln  in  the  Thirtieth  Con- 
gress was  on  the  committee  on  the  post-office  and  post  roads. 
Several  reports  were  made  by  him  from  this  committee. 
These  reports,  with  a  speech  on  internal  improvements,  cover 
his  published  work  in  the  House  up  to  July. 

As  the  Whigs  were  to  'hold  their  national  convention  for 
nominating  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  June,  Lincoln 
gave  considerable  time  during  the  spring  to  electioneering. 
In  his  judgment  the  Whigs  could  elect  nobody  but  General 
Taylor  and  he  urged  his  friends  in  Illinois  to  give  up  Henry 
Clay,  to  whom  many  of  them  still  clung.  "Mr.  Clay's  chance 
for  an  election,"  he  wrote,  "is  just  no  chance  at  all." 

Lincoln  went  to  the  convention,  which  was  held  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  as  he  prophesied,  "Old  Rough  and  Ready"  was 
nominated.  He  went  back  to  Washington  full  of  enthusiasm. 
"In  my  opinion  we  shall  have  a  most  overwhelming,  glorious 
triumph,"  he  wrote  a  friend.  "One  unmistakable  sign  is  that 
all  the  odds  and  ends  are  with  us — Barnburners,  Native 
Americans,  Tyler  men,  disappointed  office-seekers,  Locofo- 
cos,  and  the  Lord  knows  what.  This  is  important,  if  in  noth- 
ing else,  in  showing  which  way  the  wind  blows." 

In  connection  with  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  whom  he 
had  become  a  warm  friend,  Toombs,  and-  Preston,  Lincoln 
formed  the  first  Congressional  Taylor  club,  known  as  the 
"Young  Indians."  Campaigning  had  already  begun  on  the 
floor  of  Congress,  and  the  members  were  daily  making 
speeches  for  the  various  candidates.  On  July  2/th  Lincoln 
made  a  speech  for  Taylor.  It  was  a  boisterous  election 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  217 

speech,  full  of  merciless  caricaturing,  and  delivered  with  in- 
imitable drollery.  It  kept  the  House  in  an  uproar,  and  waj 
reported  the  country  over  by  the  Whig  press.  The  "Balti- 
more American,"  in  giving  a  synopsis  of  it,  called  it  the 
"crack  speech  of  the  day,"  and  said  of  Lincoln:  "He  is  a 
very  able,  acute,  uncouth,  honest,  upright  man,  and  a  tremen- 
dous wag,  withal.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln's  manner  was  so 
good-natured,  and  his  style  so  peculiar,  that  he  kept  the 
House  in  a  continuous  roar  of  merriment  for  the  last  half 
hour  of  his  speech.  He  would  commence  a  point  in  his  speech 
far  up  one  of  the  aisles,  and  keep  on  talking,  gesticulating, 
and  walking  until  he  would  find  himself,  at  the  end  of  a 
paragraph,  down  in  the  centre  of  the  area  in  front  of  the 
clerk's  desk.  He  would  then  go  back  and  take  another  head, 
and  work  down  again.  And  so  on,  through  his  capital 
speech." 

This  speech,  as  well  as  the  respect  Lincoln's  work  in  the 
House  had  inspired  among  the  leaders  of  the  party,  brought 
him  an  invitation  to  deliver  several  campaign  speeches  iff 
New  England  at  the  close  of  Congress,  and  he  went  there 
early  in  September.  There  was  in  New  England,  at  that  date, 
much  strong  anti-slavery  feeling.  The  Whigs  claimed  to  be 
"Free  Soilers"  as  well  as  the  party  which  appropriated  that 
name,  and  Lincoln,  in  the  first  speech  he  made,  defined  care- 
fully his  position  on  the  slavery  question.  This  was  at  Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts,  on  September  I2th.  The  Whig  State 
convention  had  met  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  governor, 
and  the  most  eminent  Whigs  of  Massachusetts  were  present. 
Curiously  enough  the  meeting  was  presided  over  by  ex-Gov- 
ernor Levi  Lincoln,  a  descendant,  like  Abraham  Lincoln, 
from  the  original  Samuel  of  Hingham.  There  were  many 
brilliant  speeches  made ;  but  if  we  are  to  trust  the  reports  of 
the  day,  Lincoln's  was  the  one  which  by  its  logic,  its  clear- 
ness, and  its  humor,  did  most  for  the  Whig  cause.  "Gentle- 


2i8  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

men  inform  me,"  says  one  Boston  reporter,  who  came  too 
late  for  the  exercises,  "that  it  was  one  of  the  best  speeches 
ever  heard  in  Worcester,  and  that  several  Whigs  who  had 
gone  off  on  the  "free  soil"  fizzle  have  come  back  again  to  the 
Whig  ranks." 

A  report  of  the  speech  was  printed  in  the  Boston  "Adver- 
tiser." According  to  this  report  Lincoln  spent  the  first  part 
of  his  hour  in  defending  General  Taylor  against  the  charge 
of  having  no  principles  and  in  proving  him  a  good  Whig. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  then  passed,"  says  the  Advertiser,  "to  the 
subject  of  slavery  in  the  States,  saying  that  the  people  of  Illi- 
nois agreed  entirely  with  the  people  of  Massachusetts  on  this 
subject,  except,  perhaps,  that  they  did  not  keep  so  constantly 
thinking  about  it.  All  agreed  that  slavery  was  an  evil,  but 
that  we  were  not  responsible  for  it,  and  cannot  affect  it  in 
States  of  this  Union  where  we  do  not  live.  But  the  question 
of  the  extension  of  slavery  to  new  territories  of  this  country 
is  a  part  of  our  responsibility  and  care,  and  is  under  our  con- 
trol. In  opposition  to  this  Mr.  Lincoln  believed  that  the  self- 
named  'Free  Soil"  party  was  far  behind  the  Whigs.  Both 
parties  opposed  the  extension.  As  he  understood  it,  the  new 
party  had  no  principle  except  this  opposition.  If  their  plat- 
form held  any  other,  it  was  in  such  a  general  way  that  it 
was  like  the  pair  of  pantaloons  the  Yankee  peddler  offered 
for  sale,  large  enough  for  any  man,  small  enough  for  any 
boy/  They  therefore  had  taken  a  position  calculated  to  break 
down  their  single  important  declared  object.  They  were 
working  for  the  election  of  either  General  Cass  or  General 
Taylor.  The  speaker  then  went  on  to  show,  ciearly  and  elo- 
quently, the  danger  of  extension  of  slavery  likely  to  result 
from  the  election  of  General  Cass.  To  unite  with  those  who 
annexed  the  new  territory,  to  prevent  the  extension  of 
slavery  in  that  territory,  seemed  to  him  to  be  in  the  highest 
degree  absurd  and  ridiculous.  Suppose  these  gentlemen  suc- 
ceed in  electing  Mr.  Van  Buren,  they  had  no  rp^cific  means 
to  prevent  the  extension  of  slavery  to  New  Mexico  and  Cali- 
fornia; and  General  Taylor,  he  confidently  believed,  would 
not  encourage  it,  and  would  not  prohibit  its  restriction.  But 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  219 

If  General  Cass  was  elected,  'he  felt  certain  that  the  plans  of 
farther  extension  of  territory  would  be  encouraged,  and 
those  of  the  extension  of  slavery  would  meet  no  check.  The 
'  Free  Soil '  men,  in  claiming  that  name,  indirectly  attempt  a 
deception,  by  implying  that  Whigs  were  not  Free  Soil  men. 
In  declaring  that  they  would  'do  their  duty  and  leave  the  con- 
sequences to  God/  they  merely  gave  an  excuse  for  taking  a 
course  they  were  not  able  to  maintain  by  a  fair  and  full  argu- 
ment. To  make  this  declaration  did  not  show  what  their  duty 
was.  If  it  did,  we  should  have  no  use  for  judgment;  we 
might  as  well  be  made  without  intellect;  and  when  divine 
or  human  law  does  not  clearly  point  out  what  is  our  duty,  we 
have  no  means  of  finding  out  what  it  is  but  using  our  most 
intelligent  judgment  of  the  consequences.  If  there  were  di- 
vine law  or  human  law  for  voting  for  Martin  Van  Buren,  or 
if  a  fair  examination  of  the  consequences  and  first  reasoning 
would  show  that  voting  for  him  would  bring  about  the  ends 
they  pretended  to  wish,  then  he  would  give  up  the  argument. 
But  since  there  was  no  fixed  law  on  the  subject,  and  since 
the  whole  probable  result  of  their  action  would  be  an  assist- 
ance in  electing  General  Cass,  he  must  say  that  they  were  be- 
hind the  Whigs  in  their  advocacy  of  the  freedom  of  the  soil. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  proceeded  to  rally  the  Buffalo  convention  for 
forbearing  to  say  anything — after  all  the  previous  declara- 
tions of  those  members  who  were  formerly  Whigs — on  the 
subject  of  the  Mexican  War  because  the  Van  Burens  had 
been  known  to  have  supported  it.  He  declared  that  of  all 
the  parties  asking  the  confidence  of  the  country,  this  new  one 
had  less  of  principle  than  any  other. 

"He  wondered  whether  it  was  still  the  opinion  of  these 
Free  Soil  gentlemen,  as  declared  in  the  '  whereas  '  at  Buffalo, 
that  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  were  both  entirely  dis- 
solved and  absorbed  into  their  own  body.  Had  the  Vermont 
election  given  them  any  light  ?  They  had  calculated  on  mak- 
ing as  great  an  impression  in  that  State  as  in  any  part  of  the 
Union,  and  there  their  attempts  had  been  wholly  ineffectual. 
Their  failure  there  was  a  greater  success  than  they  would 
find  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union. 

"At  the  close  of  this  truly  masterly  and  convincing 
speech,"  the  "Advertiser"  goes  on,  "the  audience  gave  three 


220  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

enthusiastic  cheers  for  Illinois,  and  three  more  for  the  elo- 
quent Whig  member  from  that  State." 

After  the  speech  at  Worcester,  Lincoln  spoke  at  Lowell, 
Dedham,  Roxbury,  Chelsea  and  Cambridge,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 22d,  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  following  a  splendid 
oration  by  Governor  Seward.  His  speech  on  this  occasion 
was  not  reported,  though  the  Boston  papers  united  in  call- 
ing it  "powerful  and  convincing."  His  success  at  Worcester 
and  Boston  was  such  that  invitations  came  from  all  over 
New  England  asking  him  to  speak. 

But  Lincoln  won  something  in  New  England  of  vastly 
deeper  importance  than  a  reputation  for  making  popular  cam- 
paign sJpeeches.  Here  for  the  first  time  he  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  utter  impossibility  of  ever  reconciling  the  northern 
conviction  that  slavery  was  evil  and  unendurable,  and  the 
southern  claim  that  it  was  divine  and  necessary ;  and  he  be- 
gan here  to  realize  that  something  must  be  done. 

The  first  impression  of  slavery  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
received  was  in  his  childhood  in  Kentucky.  His  father  and 
mother  belonged  to  a  small  company  of  western  abolition- 
ists, who  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  boldly  denounced 
the  institution  as  an  iniquity.  So  great  an  evil  did  Thomas 
and  Nancy  Lincoln  hold  slavery  that  to  escape  it  they  were 
willing  to  leave  their  Kentucky  home  and  move  to  a  free 
State.  Thus  their  boy's  first  notion  of  the  institution  was 
that  it  was  something  to  flee  from,  a  thing  so  dreadful  that  it 
was  one's  duty  to  go  to  pain  and  hardship  to  escape  it. 

In  his  new  home  in  Indiana  he  heard  the  debate  on  slavery 
go  on.  The  State  he  had  moved  into  was  in  a  territory  made 
free  forever  by  the  ordinance  of  1787,  but  there  were  still 
slaves  and  believers  in  slavery  within  its  boundaries  and  it 
took  many  years  to  eradicate  them.  Close  to  his  Indiana 
home  lay  Illinois  and  here  the  same  struggle  went  on 
through  all  his  bovhood.  _  The  lad  was  too  thoughtful  not 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  221 

to  reflect  on  what  he  heard  and  read  of  the  differences  of 
opinions  on  slavery.  By  the  time  the  Statutes  of  Indiana 
fell  into  his  hands — some  time  before  he  was  eighteen  years 
old — he  had  gathered  a  large  amount  of  practical  informa- 
tion about  the  question  which  he  was  able  then  to  weigh  in 
the  light  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Constitution,  the 
ordinance  of  1787,  and  the  laws  of  Indiana,  which  he  had 
begun  to  study  with  passionate  earnestness. 

When  he  left  Indiana  for  Illinois  he  continued  to  be 
thrown  up  against  slavery.  In  his  trip  in  1831  to  New  Or- 
leans he  saw  its  most  terrible  features.  As  a  young  legislator 
he  saw  the  citizens  of  his  town,  and  his  fellows  in  the  legis- 
lature ready  to  condemn  as  "  dangerous  agitators,"  those 
who  dared  call  slavery  an  evil,  saw  them  secretly  sympa- 
thize with  outlawry  like  the  Alton  riot  and  the  murder  of 
Elijah  Lovejoy.  So  keenly  did  he  feel  the  danger  of  pass- 
ing resolutions  against  abolitionists  which  tacitly  implied 
that  slavery  was  as  the  South  wras  beginning  to  claim,  a  di- 
vine institution  that  in  1837,  he  was  one  of  the  only  two 
members  of  the  Illinois  assembly  who  were  willing  to  pub- 
licly declare  "that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy." 

From  time  to  time  as  he  travelled  on  the  Mississippi  and 
Ohio  he  saw  the  workings  of  slavery.  In  1841  coming  home 
from  a  visit  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  he  was  in  the  same  boat  with 
a  number  of  negroes,  the  sight  so  impressed  him  that  he  de- 
scribed it  to  a  friend  : 

"  A  gentleman  had  purchased  twelve  negroes  in  different 
parts  of  Kentucky,  and  was  taking  them  to  a  farm  in  the 
South.  They  were  chained  six  and  six  together.  A  small 
iron  clevis  was  around  the  left  wrist  of  each,  and  this  fast- 
ened to  the  main  chain  by  a  shorter  one,  at  a  convenient  dis- 
tance from  the  others,  so  that  the  negroes  were  strung  to- 
gether precisely  like  so  many  fish  upon  a  trout-line.  In  this 


222  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

condition  they  were  being  separated  forever  from  the  scenes 
of  their  childhood,  their  friends,  their  fathers  and  mothers, 
and  brothers  and  sisters,  and  many  of  them  from  their  wives 
and  children,  and  going  into  perpetual  slavery,  where  the 
lash  of  the  master  is  proverbially  more  ruthless  and  unre- 
lenting than  any  other  where ;  and  yet  amid  all  these  distress- 
ing circumstances,  as  we  would  think  them,  they  were  the 
most  cheerful  and  apparently  happy  creatures  on  board.  One 
whose  offense  for  which  he  had  been  sold  was  an  over-fond- 
ness for  his  wife,  played  the  fiddle  almost  continually,  and 
the  others  danced,  sang,  cracked  jokes,  and  played  various 
games  with  cards  from  day  to  day.  How  true  it  is  that  'God 
tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb/  or  in  other  words,  that 
he  renders  the  worst  of  human  conditions  tolerable,  while  he 
permits  the  best  to  be  nothing  better  than  tolerable." 

Runaway  slaves,  underground  railway  stations,  masters 
and  men  tracking  negroes,  the  occasional  capture  of  a  man  or 
woman  to  be  taken  back  to  the  South,  trials  of  fugitives — all 
the  features  common  in  those  years  particularly  in  the  States 
bordering  on  bond  territory  Lincoln  saw.  In  1847  ne  was 
even  engaged  to  defend  a  slave-owner's  claim,  a  case  he  lost, 
the  negro  being  allowed  to  go  free. 

It  was  not  until  1844-45,  however,  that  the  matter 
became  an  important  element  in  his  political  life.  Hereto- 
fore it  had  been  a  moral  question  only,  now,  however, 
the  annexation  of  Texas  made  it  a  political  one.  It  became 
necessary  that  every  politician  and  voter  decide  whether  the 
new  territory  should  be  bond  or  free.  The  abolitionists  or 
Liberty  party  grew  rapidly  in  Illinois.  Lincoln  found  himself 
obliged  not  only  to  meet  Democratic  arguments,  but  the  abo- 
lition theories  and  convictions.  When  in  1847  ne  went  to 
Congress  it  was  already  evident  that  the  Mexican  war  would 
be  settled  by  the  acquisition  of  large  new  territory.  What 
was  to  be  done  with  it  ?  The  North  had  tried  to  forestall  the 
South  by  bringing  in  a  provision  that  whatever  territory  was 
acquired  should  be  free  forever.  This  Wilmot  proviso  as  it 


IN  WASHINGTON  IN  1847  223 

was  called  from  the  name  of  the  originator,  went  through  as 
many  forms  as  Proteus,  though  its  intent  was  always  the 
same.  From  first  to  last  Lincoln  voted  for  it.  "  I  may  ven- 
ture to  say  that  I  voted  for  it  at  least  forty  times  during  the 
short  time  I  was  there,"  he  said  in  after  years.  Although 
he  voted  so  persistently  he  did  little  or  no  debating  on  the 
question  in  the  House  and  in  the  hot  debates  from  which  he 
could  not  escape,  he  acted  as  a  peace-maker. 

At  Mrs.  Spriggs's  mess,  where  he  boarded  in  Washington, 
the  Wilmot  proviso  was  the  topic  of  frequent  conversation 
and  the  occasion  of  very  many  angry  controversies.  Dr.  Bu- 
sey,  who  was  a  fellow  boarder,  says  of  Lincoln's  part  in  these 
discussions,  that  though  he  may  have  been  as  radical  as  any 
in  the  household,  he  was  so  discreet  in  giving  expression  to 
his  convictions  on  the  slavery  question  as  to  avoid  giving  of- 
fence to  anybody,  and  was  so  conciliatory  as  to  create  the  im- 
pression, even  among  the  pro-slavery  advocates,  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  introduce  or  discuss  subjects  that  would  provoke 
a  controversy. 

"When  such  conversation  would  threaten  angry  or  even 
unpleasant  contention  he  would  interrupt  it  by  interposing 
some  anecdote,  thus  diverting  it  into  a  hearty  and  general 
laugh,  and  so  completely  disarrange  the  tenor  of  the  discus- 
sion that  the  parties  engaged  would  either  separate  in  good 
humor  or  continue  conversation  free  from  discord.  This 
amicable  disposition  made  him  very  popular  with  the  house- 
hold." 

But  when  in  1848  Lincoln  went  to  New  England  he  expe- 
rienced for  the  first  time  the  full  meaning  of  the  "free  soil" 
sentiment  as  the  new  abolition  sentiment  was  called.  Massa- 
chusetts was  quivering  at  that  moment  under  the  impas- 
sioned protests  of  the  great  abolitionists.  Sumner  was  just 
deciding  to  abandon  literature  to  devote  his  life  to  the  cause 
of  freedom  and  was  speaking  wherever  he  had  the  chance 


224  L!FE  OP  LINCOLN 

and  often  in  scenes  which  were  riots.  "Ah  me  such  an  as- 
sembly," wrote  Longfellow  in  his  Journal  after  one  of  these 
speeches  of  Sumner.  "It  was  like  one  of  Beethoven's  sym- 
phonies played  in  a  saw-mill."  Whittier  was  laboring  at 
Amesbury  by  letters  of  counsel  and  encouragement  to 
friends,  by  his  pure,  high-souled  poems  of  protest  and  prom- 
ise and  by  his  editorials  to  the  "National  Era,"  which  he  and 
his  friends  had  just  started  in  Washington.  Lowell  was  pub- 
lishing the  last  of  the  Biglow  Papers  and  preparing  the  whole 
for  the  book  form.  He  was  writing,  too,  some  of  his  noblest 
prose.  Emerson,  Palfrey,  Hoar,  Adams,  Phillips,  Garrison, 
were  all  at  work.  Giddings  had  been  there  from  Ohio. 

Only  a  few  days  before  Lincoln  arrived  a  great  convention 
of  free  soilers  and  bolting  Whigs  had  been  held  in  Tremont 
Temple  and  its  earnestness  and  passion  had  produced  a  deep 
impression.  Sensitive  as  Lincoln  was  to  every  shade  of  popu- 
lar feeling  and  conviction  the  sentiment  in  New  England 
stirred  him  as  he  had  never  been  stirred  before,  on  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery.  Listening  to  Seward's  speech  in  Tremont 
Temple,  he  seems  to  have  had  a  sudden  insight  into  the  truth, 
a  quick  illumination ;  and  that  night,  as  the  two  men  sat  talk- 
ing, he  said  gravely  to  the  great  anti-slavery  advocate : 

"Governor  Seward,  I  have  been  thinking  about  what  you 
said  in  your  speech.  I  reckon  you  are  right.  We  have  got  to 
deal  with  this  slavery  question,  and  got  to  give  much  more 
attention  to  it  hereafter  than  we  have  been  doing." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LINCOLN  AT  NIAGARA SECURES  A  PATENT  FOR  AN  INVEN- 
TION  ABANDONS  POLITICS  AND  DECIDES  TO  DEVOTE  HIM- 
SELF TO  THE  LAW 

IT  was  late  in  September  when  Lincoln  started  westward 
from  his  campaigning  in  New  England.  He  stopped  in  Al- 
bany, N.  Y.,  and  in  company  with  Thurlow  Weed  called  on 
Fillmore  then  candidate  for  Vice-President.  From  Albany 
he  went  to  Niagara.  Mr.  Herndon  once  asked  him  what 
made  the  deepest  impression  on  him  when  he  stood  before 
the  Falls. 

"The  thing  that  struck  me  most  forcibly  when  I  saw  the 
Falls/'  he  responded,  "was,  where  in  the  world  did  all  that 
water  come  from?"  The  memory  of  Niagara  remained 
with  him  and  aroused  many  speculations.  Among  various 
notes  for  lectures  which  Nicolay  and  Hay  found  among  Mr. 
Lincoln's  papers  after  his  death  and  published  in  his  "  Com- 
plete Works/'  is  a  fragment  on  Niagara  which  shows  how 
deeply  his  mind  was  stirred  by  the  majesty  of  that  mighty 
wonder. 

"Niagara  Falls !  By  what  mysterious  power  is  it  that  mil- 
lions and  millions  are  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to 
gaze  upon  Niagara  Falls?  There  is  no  mystery  about  the 
thing  itself.  Every  effect  is  just  as  any  intelligent  man, 
knowing  the  causes,  would  anticipate  without  seeing  it.  If 
the  water  moving  onward  in  a  great  river  reaches  a  point 
where  there  is  a  perpendicular  jog  of  a  hundred  feet  in  de- 
scent in  the  bottom  of  the  river,  it  is  plain  the  water  will  have 
a  violent  and  continuous  olunge  at  that  point.  It  is  also  plain, 

225 


226  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  water,  thus  plunging,  will  foam  and  roar,  and  send  up  a 
mist  continuously,  in  which  last,  during  sunshine,  there  will 
be  perpetual  rainbows.  The  mere  physical  of  Niagara  Falls 
is  only  this.  Yet  this  is  really  a  very  small  part  of  that 
world's  wonder.  Its  power  to  excite  reflection  and  emotion 
is  its  great  charm.  The  geologist  will  demonstrate  that  the 
plunge,  or  fall,  was  once  at  Lake  Ontario,  and  has  worn  its 
way  back  to  its  present  position ;  he  will  ascertain  how  fast  it 
is  wearing  now,  and  so  get  a  basis  for  determining  how  long 
it  has  been  wearing  back  from  Lake  Ontario,  and  finally 
demonstrate  by  it  that  this  world  is  at  least  fourteen  thou- 
sand years  old.  A  philosopher  of  a  slightly  different  turn  will 
say,  'Niagara  Falls  is  only  the  lip  of  the  basin  out  of  which 
pours  all  the  surplus  water  which  rains  down  on  two  or  three 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  the  earth's  surface/  He 
will  estimate  with  approximate  accuracy  that  five  hundred 
thousand  tons  of  water  fall  with  their  full  weight  a  distance 
of  a  hundred  feet  each  minute — thus  exerting  a  force  equal 
to  the  lifting  of  the  same  weight,  through  the  same  space,  in 
the  same  time.  .  .  . 

"But  still  there  is  more.  It  calls  up  the  indefinite  past. 
When  Columbus  first  sought  this  continent — when  Christ 
suffered  on  the  cross — when  Moses  led  Israel  through  the 
Red  Sea — nay,  even  when  Adam  first  came  from  the  hand  of 
his  Maker;  then,  as  now,  Niagara  was  roaring  here.  The 
eyes  of  that  species  of  extinct  giants  whose  bones  fill  the 
mounds  of  America  have  gazed  on  Niagara,  as  ours  do  now. 
Contemporary  with  the  first  race  of  men,  and  older  than  the 
first  man,  Niagara  is  strong  and  fresh  to-day  as  ten  thousand 
years  ago.  The  Mammoth  and  Mastodon,  so  long  dead  that 
fragments  of  their  monstrous  bones  alone  testify  that  they 
ever  lived,  have  gazed  on  Niagara — in  that  long,  long  time 
never  still  for  a  single  moment,  never  dried,  never  froze, 
never  slept,  never  rested." 

In  his  trip  westward  to  Springfield  from  Niagara  there  oc- 
curred an  incident  which  started  Lincoln's  mind  on  a  new 
line  of  thought  one  which  all  that  fall  divided  it  with  poli- 
tics. It  happened  that  the  boat  by  which  he  made  part  of  the 


VISITS  NIAGARA  PALLS  227 

trip  stranded  in  shallow  water.  The  devices  employed  to  float 
her,  interested  Lincoln  much.  He  no  doubt  recalled  the  days 
when  on  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Sangamon  he 
had  seen  his  own  or  his  neighbor's  boats  stuck  on  a  sand-bar 
for  hours,  even  days.  Was  there  no  way  that  these  vexatious 
delays  could  be  prevented  in  shallow  streams?  He  set  him- 
self resolutely  at  the  task  of  inventing  a  practical  device  for 
getting  boats  over  shoals.  When  he  reached  Springfield  he 
began  to  build  a  model  representing  his  idea.  He  showed  the 
deepest  interest  in  the  work  and  Mr.  Herndon  says  he  would 
sometimes  bring  the  model  into  his  office  and  while  whittling 
on  it  would  talk  of  its  merits  and  the  revolution  it  was  going 
to  work  on  the  western  rivers. 

When  Lincoln  returned  to  Washington  he  took  the  model 
with  him,  and  through  Mr.  Z.  C.  Robbins,  a  lawyer  of  Wash- 
ington, secured  a  patent.  "He  walked  into  my  office 
one  morning  with  a  model  of  a  western  steamboat  under  his 
arm/'  says  Mr.  Robbins.  "After  a  friendly  greeting  he 
placed  his  model  on  my  office-table  and  proceeded  to  explain 
the  principles  embodied  therein  that  he  believed  to  be  his  own 
invention,  and  which,  if  new,  he  desired  to  secure  by  letters- 
patent.  During  my  former  residence  in  St.  Louis,  I  had  made 
myself  thoroughly  familiar  with  everything  appertaining  to 
the  construction  and  equipment  of  the  flat-bottomed  steam- 
boats that  were  adapted  to  the  shallow  rivers  of  our  western 
and  southern  States,  and  therefore,  I  was  able  speedily  to 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  proposed  improve- 
ment of  that  class  of  vessels  was  new  and  patentable,  and  I 
so  informed  him.  Thereupon  he  instructed  me  to  prepare  the 
necessary  drawings  and  papers  and  prosecute  an  application 
for  a  patent  for  his  invention  at  the  United  States  patent 
office.  I  complied  with  his  instructions  and  in  due  course  of 
proceedings  procured  for  him  a  patent  that  fully  covered  all 
the  distinguishing  features  of  his  improved  steamboat.  The 


228  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

identical  model  that  Mr.  Lincoln  brought  to  my  office  can 
now  be  seen  in  the  United  States  patent  office." 

But  it  was  only  his  leisure  which  Lincoln  spent  in  the  fall 
of  1848  on  his  invention.  All  through  October  and  the  first 
days  of  November  he  was  speaking  up  and  down  the  State 
for  Taylor.  His  zeal  was  rewarded  in  November  by  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Whig  ticket  and  a  few  weeks  later  he  went  back 
to  Washington  for  the  final  session  of  the  Thirtieth  Con- 
gress. He  went  back  resolved  to  do  something  regarding 
slavery.  He  seems  to  have  seen  but  two  things  at  that  mo- 
ment which  could  constitutionally  be  done.  The  first  was  to 
allow  the  slave-holder  no  more  ground  than  he  had;  to  ac- 
complish this  he  continued  to  vote  for  the  Wilmot  proviso. 
The  second  was  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia. Over  ten  years  before,  in  1837,  Lincoln  had  declared, 
in  the  assembly  of  Illinois,  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  had  the  power,  under  the  constitution,  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  that  the  power  ought 
not  to  be  exercised  unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the 
District.  When  he  went  to  Washington  in  1847  ne  found  a 
condition  of  things  which  made  him  feel  that  Congress  ought 
to  exercise  the  power  it  had.  There  had  existed  for  years  in 
the  city  a  slave  market :  "a  sort  of  negro  livery  stable,  where 
droves  of  negroes  were  collected,  temporarily  kept,  and 
finally  taken  to  southern  markets,  precisely  like  droves  of 
horses,"  Lincoln  said  in  describing  it  in  later  years ;  and  this 
frightful  place  was  in  view  from  the  windows  of  the  Capitol. 
Morally  and  intellectually  shocked  and  irritated  by  this  spec- 
tacle, Lincoln  brooded  over  it  until  now,  in  the  second  ses- 
sion of  his  term,  he  decided  to  ask  that  Congress  exercise  the 
power  he  had  affirmed  ten  years  before  belonged  to  it,  and 
on  January  16,  1849,  ne  drew  up  and  presented  a  bill  to  abol- 
ish slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  "with  the  consent  of 
the  voters  of  the  District  and  with  compensation  to  owners 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  229 

The  bill  caused  a  noise  in  the  House,  but  came  to  naught, 
as  indeed  at  that  date  any  similar  bill  was  bound  to  do.   It 
showed,  however,  more  plainly  than  anything  Lincoln  had 
done  so  far  in  Congress  his  fearlessness  when  his  convictions ' 
were  aroused. 

The  inauguration  of  Taylor  on  March  4,  1849,  ended  Lin- 
coln's congressional  career.  The  principle,  "turn  about  is 
fair  play,"  which  he  had  insisted  on  in  1846  when  working 
for  the  nomination  for  himself,  he  regarded  as  quite  as  ap- 
plicable now.  It  was  not  because  he  did  not  desire  to  return 
to  Congress. 

"  I  made  the  declaration  that  I  would  not  be  a  candidate 
again,"  he  wrote  Herndon  in  January,  1848,  "more  from  a 
wish  to  deal  fairly  with  others,  to  keep  peace  among  our 
friends,  and  to  keep  the  district  from  going  to  the  enemy, 
than  from  any  cause  personal  to  myself;  so  that,  if  it  should 
so  happen  that  nobody  else  wishes  to  be  elected,  I  could  not 
refuse  the  people  the  right  of  sending  me  again.  But  to 
enter  myself  as  a  competitor  of  others,  or  to  authorize  any 
one  so  to  enter  me,  is  what  my  word  and  honor  forbid." 

And  yet  he  was  not  willing  to  leave  public  life.  The  term 
in  Congress  had  only  increased  his  fondness  for  politics.  It 
had  given  him  a  touch  of  that  fever  for  public  office  from 
which  so  few  men  who  have  served  in  Congress  ever  entirely 
recover.  The  Whigs  owed  much  to  him,  and  there  was  a 
general  disposition  to  gratify  any  reasonable  ambition  he 
might  have.  "I  believe  that,  so  far  as  the  Whigs  in  Congress 
are  concerned,  I  could  have  the  General  Land  Office  almost 
by  common  consent,"  he  wrote  Speed;  "but  then  Sweet  and 
Don  Morrison  and  Browning  and  Cyrus  Edwards  all  want  it, 
and  what  is  worse,  while  I  think  I  could  easily  take  it  myselfj 
I  fear  I  shall  have  trouble  to  get  it  for  any  other  man  in  Illi- 
nois." 

Although  he  feared  his  efforts  would  be  useless,  he  pledged 
his  support  to  his  friend,  Cyrus  Edwards.  While  Lincoln 


2  30  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

was  looking  after  Edwards's  interests,  a  candidate  appeared 
who  was  most  objectionable  to  the  Whigs,  General  Justin 
Butterfield.  Lincoln  did  all  he  could  to  defeat  Butterfield 
save  the  one  thing  necessary — ask  the  position  for  himself. 
This  he  would  not  do  until  he  learned  that  Edwards  had  no 
chance.  Then  he  applied;  but  it  was  too  late.  Butterfield 
had  secured  the  office  while  Lincoln  had  been  holding  back. 
When  Edwards  found  that  Lincoln  had  finally  applied  for 
the  place,  he  accused  him  of  treachery.  Lincoln  was  deeply 
hurt  by  the  suspicion. 

"The  better  part  of  one's  life  consists  of  his  friend- 
ships," he  wrote  to  Judge  Gillespie,  "  and,  of  them, 
mine  with  Mr.  Edwards  was  one  of  the  most  cherished. 
I  have  not  been  false  to  it.  At  a  word  I  could  have  had 
the  office  any  time  before  the  Department  was  committed 
to  Mr.  Butterfield — at  least  Mr.  Ewing  and  the  President 
say  as  much.  That  word  I  forbore  to  speak,  partly  for  other 
reasons,  but  chiefly  for  Mr.  Edwards's  sake — losing  the 
office  that  he  might  gain  it.  I  was  always  for  (him) ;  but  to 
lose  his  friendship,  by  the  effort  for  him,  would  oppress  me 
very  much,  were  I  not  sustained  by  the  utmost  consciousness 
of  rectitude.  I  first  determined  to  be  an  applicant,  uncondi- 
tionally, on  the  2d  of  June ;  and  I  did  so  then  upon  being  in- 
formed by  a  telegraphic  despatch  that  the  question  was  nar- 
rowed down  to  Mr.  B.  and  myself,  and  that  the  Cabinet  had 
postponed  the  appointment  three  weeks  for  my  benefit.  Not 
doubting  that  Mr.  Edwards  was  wholly  out  of  the  question, 
I,  nevertheless,  would  not  then  have  become  an  applicant  had 
I  supposed  he  would  thereby  be  brought  to  suspect  me  of 
treachery  to  him.  Two  or  three  days  afterwards  a  conversa- 
tion with  Levi  Davis  convinced  me  Mr.  Edwards  was  dis- 
satisfied ;  but  I  was  then  too  far  in  to  get  out.  His  own  let- 
ter, written  on  the  25th  of  April,  after  I  had  fully  informed 
him  of  all  that  had  passed,  up  to  within  a  few  days  of  that 
time,  gave  assurance  I  had  that  entire  confidence  from  him 
which  I  felt  my  uniform  and  strong  friendship  for  him  en- 
titled me  to.  Among  other  things  it  says :  'Whatever  course 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  231 

your  judgment  may  dictate  as  proper  to  be  pursued  shall 
never  be  excepted  to  by  me."  I  also  had  had  a  letter  from 
Washington  saying  Chambers,  of  the  "  Republic,"  had 
brought  a  rumor  there,  that  Mr.  E.  had  declined 
in  my  favor,  which  rumor  I  judged  came  from  Mr. 
E.  himself,  as  I  had  not  then  breathed  of  his  letter  to 
any  living  creature.  In  saying  I  had  never,  before  the  2d 
of  June,  determined  to  be  an  applicant,  unconditionally ,  I 
mean  to  admit  that,  before  then,  I  had  said,  substantially,  I 
would  take  the  office  rather  than  it  should  be  lost  to  the  State, 
or  given  to  one  in  the  State  whom  the  Whigs  did  not  want ; 
but  I  aver  that  in  every  instance  in  which  I  spoke  of  myself 
I  intended  to  keep,  and  now  believe  I  did  keep,  Mr.  E.  above 
myself.  Mr.  Edwards's  first  suspicion  was  that  I  had  al- 
lowed Baker  to  overreach  me,  as  his  friend,  in  behalf  of  Don 
Morrison.  I  know  this  was  a  mistake ;  and  the,  result  has 
proved  it.  I  understand  his  view  now  is,  that  if  I  had  gone 
to  open  war  with  Baker  I  could  have  ridden  him  down,  and 
had  the  thing  all  my  own  way.  I  believe  no  such  thing.  With 
Baker  and  some  strong  man  from  the  Military  tract  and  else- 
where for  Morrison,  and  we  and  some  strong  men  from  the 
Wabash  and  elsewhere  for  Mr.  E.,  it  was  not  possible  for 
either  to  succeed.  I  believed  this  in  March,  and  I  know  it 
now.  The  only  thing  which  gave  either  any  chance  was  the 
very  thing  Baker  and  I  proposed — an  adjustment  with  them- 
selves. 

"You  may  wish  to  know  how  Butterfield  finally  beat  me. 
I  cannot  tell  you  particulars  now,  but  will  when  I  see  you.  In 
the  meantime  let  it  be  understood  I  am  not  greatly  dissatis- 
fied— I  wish  the  office  had  been  so  bestowed  as  to  encourage 
our  friends  in  future  contests,  and  I  regret  exceedingly  Mr. 
Edwards's  feelings  towards  me.  These  two  things  away,  I 
should  have  no  regrets — at  least  I  think  I  would  not." 

It  was  not  until  eleven  years  later  that  Edwards  forgave 
Lincoln.  Then  at  Judge  Gillespie's  request  he  promised  to 
"  bury  the  hatchet  with  Lincoln  "  and  to  enter  the  campaign 
for  him. 

Lincoln  declared  that  he  had  no  regrets  about  the  way  the 
General  Land  Office  went,  but,  if  he  had  not,  his  Whig 


232  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

friends  in  Washington  had.  They  determined  to  do  some- 
thing for  him,  and  in  the  summer  of  1849  summoned  him  to 
the  capital  to  urge  him  to  accept  the  governorship  of  Oregon. 
The  Territory  would  soon  be  a  State,  it  was  believed,  and 
Lincoln  would  then  undoubtedly  be  chosen  to  represent  it  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  Unquestionably,  a  splendid  politi- 
cal prospect  was  thus  opened.  Many  of  Lincoln's  friends  ad- 
vised him  to  accept;  his  wife,  however,  disliked  the  idea  of 
life  in  the  far  West,  and  on  her  account  he  refused  the  place. 

The  events  of  the  summer  of  1849  seemed  to  Lincoln  to 
end  his  political  career.  He  had  no  time  to  brood  over  his 
situation,  however.  The  necessity  of  earning  a  livelihood 
was  too  imperative.  His  financial  obligations  were,  in  fact, 
considerable.  The  old  debt  for  the  New  Salem  store  still 
hung  over  him ;  he  had  a  growing  family ;  and  his  father  and 
mother,  who  were  still  living  in  Coles  county,  whither  they 
had  moved  in  1831,  were  dependent  upon  him  for  many  of 
the  necessaries,  as  well  as  all  the  comforts,  of  their  lives.  At 
intervals  ever  since  he  had  left  home  he  had  helped  them; 
now  by  saving  their  land  from  the  foreclosing  of  a  mortgage, 
now  by  paying  their  doctor's  bills,  now  by  adding  to  the 
cheerfulness  of  their  home. 

He  was  equally  kind  to  his  other  relatives,  visiting  them 
and  aiding  them  in  various  ways.  Among  these  relatives 
were  two  cousins,  Abraham  and  Mordecai,  the  sons  of  his 
uncle  Mordecai  Lincoln,  who  lived  in  Hancock  County,  in  his 
congressional  district.  At  Quincy,  also  in  his  district,  lived 
with  his  family  a  brother  of  his  mother — Joseph  Hanks.  Lin- 
coln never  went  to  Quincy  without  going  to  see  his  uncle  Jo- 
seph and  "uncle  Joe's  Jake,"  as  he  called  one  of  his  cousins. 
"On  these  occasions,"  writes  one  of  the  latter's  family,  Mr. 
J.  M.  Hanks  of  Florence,  Colorado,  "mirth  and  jollity 
abounded,  for  Mr.  Lincoln  indulged  his  bent  of  story-tell- 
ing to  the  utmost^  until  a  late  hour."  His  half-brother,  John 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  233 

Johnston,  he  aided  for  many  years.  His  help  did  not  always 
take  the  form  of  money.  Johnston  was  shiftless  and  always 
in  debt,  and  consequently  restless  and  discontented.  In  1851 
he  was  determined  to  borrow  money  or  sell  his  farm,  and 
move  to  Missouri.  He  proposed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  lend 
him  eighty  dollars.  Mr.  Lincoln  answered : 

"  What  I  propose  is,  that  you  shall  go  to  work,  '  tooth  and 
nail/  for  somebody  who  will  give  you  money  for  it.  ... 
I  now  promise  you,  that  for  every  dollar  you  will,  between 
this  and  the  first  of  May,  get  for  your  own  labor,  either  in 
money  or  as  your  own  indebtedness,  I  will  then  give  you  one 
other  dollar.  ...  In  this  I  do  not  mean  you  shall  go 
off  to  St.  Louis,  or  the  lead  mines,  or  the  gold  mines  in  Cali- 
fornia, but  I  mean  for  you  to  go  at  it  for  the  best  wages  you 
can  get  close  to  home  in  Coles  county.  Now,  if  you  will  do 
this,  you  will  be  soon  out  of  debt,  and,  what  is  better,  you 
will  have  a  habit  that  will  keep  you  from  getting  in  debt 
again.  But,  if  I  should  now  clear  you  out  of  debt,  next  year 
you  would  be  just  as  deep  in  as  ever.  You  say  you  would 
almost  give  your  place  in  Heaven  for  seventy  or  eighty  dol- 
lars. Then  you  value  your  place  in  Heaven  very  cheap,  for  I 
am  sure  you  can,  with  the  offer  I  make,  get  the  seventy  or 
eighty  dollars  for  four  or  five  months'  work." 

A  few  months  later  Lincoln  wrote  Johnston  in  regard  to 
his  contemplated  move  to  Missouri : 

"What  can  you  do  in  Missouri  better  than  here?  Is  the 
land  any  richer?  Can  you  there,  any  more  than  here,  raise 
com  and  wheat  and  oats  without  work  ?  Will  anybody  there, 
any  more  than  here,  do  your  work  for  you  ?  If  you  intend  to 
go  to  work,  there  is  no  better  place  than  right  where  you  are ; 
if  you  do  not  intend  to  go  to  work,  you  cannot  get 
along  anywhere.  Squirming  and  crawling  about  from 
place  to  place  can  do  no  good.  You  have  raised  no 
crop  this  year ;  and  what  you  really  want  is  to  sell  the  land, 
get  the  money,  and  spend  it.  Part  with  the  land  you  have, 
and,  my  life  upon  it.  you  will  never  after  own  a  spot  big 


234 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


enough  to  bury  you  in.  Half  you  will  get  for  the  land  you 
will  spend  in  moving  to  Missouri,  and  the  other  half  you  will 
eat,  drink,  and  wear  out,  and  no  foot  of  land  will  be  bought. 
Now,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  have  no  hand  in  such  a  piece  of 
foolery." 

All  this  plain  advice  did  not  prevent  Johnston  trying  to 
sell  a  small  piece  of  land  on  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  paid  the 
mortgage  in  order  to  secure  it  to  his  step-mother  during  her 
life.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  received  this  proposition  he  replied : 

"Your  proposal  about  selling  the  east  forty  acres  of  land  is 
dl  that  I  want  or  could  claim  for  myself;  but  I  am  not  satis- 
fied with  it  on  mother's  account.  I  want  her  to  have  her  liv- 
ing, and  I  feel  that  it  is  my  duty,  to  some  extent,  to  see  that 
she  is  not  wronged.  She  had  a  right  of  dower  (that  is,  the 
use  of  one-third  for  life)  in  the  other  two  forties;  but,  it 
seems,  she  has  already  let  you  take  that,  hook  and  line.  She 
now  has  the  use  of  the  whole  of  the  east  forty  as  long  as  she 
lives,  and  if  it  be  sold,  of  course  she  is  entitled  to  the  interest 
on  all  the  money  it  brings  as  long  as  she  lives ;  but  you  pro- 
pose to  sell  it  for  three  hundred  dollars,  take  one  hundred 
away  with  you,  and  leave  her  two  hundred  at  eight  per  cent., 
making  her  the  enormous  sum  of  sixteen  dollars  a  year. 
Now,  if  you  are  satisfied  with  treating  her  in  that  way,  I  am 
not.  It  is  true  that  you  are  to  have  that  forty  for  two  hundred 
dollars  at  mother's  death ;  but  you  are  not  to  have  it  before.  I 
am  confident  that  land  can  be  made  to  produce  for  mother  at 
least  thirty  dollars  a  year,  and  I  cannot,  to  oblige  any  living 
person,  consent  that  she  shall  be  put  on  an  allowance  of  six- 
teen dollars  a  year." 

It  was  these  obligations  which  made  Lincoln  resume  at 
once  the  practice  of  the  law.  He  decided  to  remain  in 
Springfield,  although  he  had  an  opportunity  to  go  in  with  a 
well-established  Chicago  lawyer.  For  many  reasons  life  in 
Springfield  was  satisfactory  to  him.  He  had  bought  a  home 
there  in  1844,  and  was  deeply  attached  to  it.  There,  too,  he 
was  surrounded  by  scores  of  friends  who  had  known  him 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  235 

since  his  first  appearance  in  the  town,  and  to  many  of  whom 
he  was  related  by  marriage ;  and  he  had  the  good  will  of  the 
community.  In  short,  he  was  a  part  of  Springfield.  The  very 
children  knew  him,  for  there  was  not  one  of  them  for  whom 
he  had  not  done  some  kind  deed.  "My  first  strong  impres- 
sion of  Mr.  Lincoln/'  says  a  lady  of  Springfield,  "was  made 
by  one  of  his  kind  deeds.  I  was  going  with  a  little  friend  for 
my  first  trip  alone  on  the  railroad  cars.  It  was  an  epoch  of 
my  life.  I  had  planned  for  it  and  dreamed  of  it  for  weeks. 
The  day  I  was  to  go  came,  but  as  the  hour  of  the  train  ap- 
proached, the  hackman,  through  some  neglect,  failed  to  call 
for  my  trunk.  As  the  minutes  went  on,  I  realized,  in  a  panic 
of  grief,  that  I  should  miss  the  train.  I  was  standing  by  the 
gate,  my  hat  and  gloves  on,  sobbing  as  if  my  heart  would 
break,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  by. 

"  *  Why,  what's  the  matter  ?'  he  asked,  and  I  poured  out  all 
my  story. 

"  'How  big's  the  trunk?  There's  still  time,  if  it  isn't  too 
big/  And  he  pushed  through  the  gate  and  up  to  the  door.  My 
mother  and  I  took  him  up  to  my  room,  where  my  little  old- 
fashioned  trunk  stood,  locked  and  tied.  'Oh,  ho,'  he  cried; 
'wipe  your  eyes  and  come  on  quick/  And  before  I  knew  what 
he  was  going  to  do,  he  had  shouldered  the  trunk,  was  down 
stairs,  and  striding  out  of  the  yard.  Down  the  street  he  went, 
fast  as  his  long  legs  could  carry  him.  I  trotting  behind,  dry- 
ing my  tears  as  I  went.  We  reached  the  station  in  time.  Mr. 
Lincoln  put  me  on  the  train,  kissed  me  good-bye,  and  told 
me  to  have  a  good  time.  It  was  just  like  him." 

This  sensitiveness  to  a  child's  wants  made  Mr.  Lincoln  a 
most  indulgent  father.  He  continually  carried  his  boys  about 
with  him,  and  their  pranks,  even  when  they  approached  re- 
bellion, seemed  to  be  an  endless  delight  to  him.  Like  most 
boys,  they  loved  to  run  away,  and  neighbors  of  the  Lincolns 
tell  many  tales  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  captures  of  the  culprits.  One 


736  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

of  the  prettiest  of  all  these  is  a  story  told  of  an  escape  Willie 
once  made,  when  three  or  four  years  old,  from  the  hands  of 
his  mother,  who  was  giving  him  a  tubbing.  He  scampered 
out  of  the  door  without  the  vestige  of  a  garment  on  him,  flew 
up  the  street,  slipped  under  a  fence  into  a  great  green  field, 
and  took  across  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  sitting  on  the  porch, 
and  discovered  the  pink  and  white  runaway  as  he  was  cut- 
ting across  the  greensward.  He  stood  up,  laughing  aloud, 
while  the  mother  entreated  him  to  go  in  pursuit;  then  he 
started  in  chase.  Half-way  across  the  field  he  caught  the 
child,  and  gathering  him  up  in  his  long  arms,  he  covered  his 
rosy  form  with  kisses.  Then  mounting  him  on  his  back,  the 
chubby  legs  around  his  neck,  he  rode  him  back  to  his  mother 
and  his  tub. 

It  was  a  frequent  custom  with  Lincoln,  this  of  carrying  his 
children  on  his  shoulders.  He  rarely  went  down  street  that 
he  did  not  have  one  of  his  younger  boys  mounted  on  his 
shoulder,  while  another  hung  to  the  tail  of  his  long  coat. 
The  antics  of  the  boys  with  their  father,  and  the  species  of 
tyranny  they  exercised  over  him,  are  still  subjects  of  talk  in 
Springfield.  Mr.  Roland  Diller,  who  was  a  neighbor  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  tells  one  of  the  best  of  the  stories.  He  was  called 
to  the  door  one  day  by  hearing  a  great  noise  of  children  cry- 
ing, and  there  was  Mr.  Lincoln  striding  by  with  the  boys, 
both  of  whom  were  wailing  aloud.  "Why,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
what's  the  matter  with  the  boys  ?"  he  asked. 

"Just  what's  the  matter  with  the  whole  world,"  Lincoln 
replied;  "I've  got  three  walnuts  and  each  wants  two." 

Another  of  Lincoln's  Springfield  acquaintances,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Alcott  of  Elgin,  111.,  tells  of  seeing  him  coming  away 
from  church,  unusually  early  one  Sunday  morning.  "The 
sermon  could  not  have  been  more  than  half  way  through," 
says  Mr.  Alcott.  "  Tad'  was  slung  across  his  left  arm  like  a 
pair  of  saddle-bags,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  striding  along  with 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  237 

long,  and  deliberate  steps  toward  his  home.  On  one  of  the 
street  corners  he  encountered  a  group  of  his  fellow-towns- 
men.  Mr.  Lincoln  anticipated  the  question  which  was  about 
to  be  put  by  the  group,  and,  taking  his  figure  of  speech  from 
practices  with  which  they  were  only  too  familiar,  said: 
'  Gentlemen,  I  entered  this  colt,  but  he  kicked  around  so  I 
had  to  withdraw  him/  ' 

There  was  no  institution  in  Springfield  in  which  Lincoln 
had  not  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  first  years  of  his  resi- 
dence ;  and  now  that  he  had  decided  to  remain  in  the  town,  he 
resumed  all  his  old  relations,  from  the  daily  visits  to  the 
drug-stores  on  the  public  square,  which  were  the  recognized 
rendezvous  of  Springfield  politicians  and  lawyers,  to  his 
weekly  attendance  at  the  First  Presbyterian  church.  That 
he  was  as  regular  in  his  attendance  on  the  latter  as  on  the 
former,  all  his  old  neighbors  testify.  In  fact,  Lincoln,  all  his 
life,  went  regularly  to  church.  The  serious  attention  which 
he  gave  the  sermons  he  heard  is  shown  in  a  well-authenti- 
cated story  of  a  visit  he  made  in  1837,  with  a  company  of 
friends,  to  a  camp-meeting  held  six  miles  west  of  Springfield 
at  the  "Salem  Church."  The  sermon  on  this  occasion  was 
preached  by  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  original  individ- 
uals in  the  pulpit  of  that  day — the  Rev.  Dr.  Peter  Akers.  In 
this  discourse  was  a  remarkable  and  prophetic  passage,  long 
remerribered  by  those  who  heard  it.  The  speaker  prophesied 
the  downfall  of  castes,  the  end  of  tyrannies,  and  the  crushing 
out  of  slavery.  As  Lincoln  and  his  friends  returned  home 
there  was  a  long  discussion  of  the  sermon. 

"It  was  the  most  instructive  sermon,  and  he  is  the  most 
impressive  preacher,  I  have  ever  heard,"  Lincoln  said.  "It  is 
wonderful  that  God  has  given  such  power  to  men.  I  firmly 
believe  his  interpretation  of  prophecy,  so  far  as  I  understand 
it,  and  especially  about  the  breaking  down  of  civil  and  re- 
ligious tyrannies;  and,  odd  as  it  may  seem,  when  he  des- 


238  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

cribed  those  changes  and  revolutions,  I  was  deeply  impressed 
that  I  should  be  somehow  strangely  mixed  up  with  them." 

If  Lincoln  was  not  at  this  period  a  man  of  strictly  ortho- 
dox beliefs,  he  certainly  was,  if  we  accept  his  own  words, 
profoundly  religious.  In  the  letters  which  passed  between 
Lincoln  and  Speed  in  1841  and  1842,  when  the  two  men 
were  doubting  their  own  hearts  and  wrestling  with  their  dis- 
illusions and  forebodings,  Lincoln  frequently  expressed  the 
idea  to  Speed  that  the  Almighty  had  sent  their  suffering  for  a 
special  purpose.  When  Speed  finally  acknowledged  himself 
happily  married,  Lincoln  wrote  to  him :  "I  always  was  super- 
stitious; I  believe  God  made  me  one  of  the  instruments  of 
bringing  your  Fanny  and  you  together,  which  union  I  have 
no  doubt  he  had  foreordained."  Then,  referring  to  his  own 
troubled  heart,  he  added :  "Whatever  He  designs  He  will  do 
for  me  yet.  'Stand  still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord/ 
is  my  text  just  now." 

Only  a  few  months  after  Lincoln  decided  to  settle  perma- 
nently in  Springfield  his  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  fell  danger- 
ously ill.  Lincoln  in  writing  to  John  Johnston,  his  half- 
brother,  said:  "I  sincerely  hope  father  may  recover  his 
health,  but,  at  all  events,  tell  him  to  remember  to  call  upon 
and  confide  in  our  great  and  good  and  merciful  Maker,  who 
will  not  turn  away  from  him  in  any  extremity.  He  notes 
the  fall  of  a  sparrow,  and  numbers  the  hairs  of  our  heads, 
and  He  will  not  forget  the  dying  man  who  puts  his  trust  in 
Him." 

Lincoln's  return  to  the  law  was  characterized  by  a  marked 
change  in  his  habits.  He  gave  much  more  attention  to  study 
than  he  ever  had  before.  His  colleagues  in  Springfield  and 
on  the  circuit  noticed  this  change.  After  court  closed  in  the 
town  on  the  circuit,  and  the  lawyers  were  gathered  in  the  bar- 
room or  on  the  veranda  of  the  tavern,  telling  stories  and 
chaffing  one  another,  Lincoln  would  join  them,  though  often 


VISITS  NIAGARA  FALLS  239 

but  for  a  few  minutes.  He  would  tell  a  story  as  he  passed, 
and  while  they  were  laughing  at  its  climax,  would  slip  away 
to  his  room  to  study.  Frequently  this  work  was  carried  on 
far  into  the  night.  " Placing  a  candle  on  a  chair  at  the  head 
of  the  bed/'  says  Mr.  Herndon,  "he  would  study  for  hours. 
I  have  known  him  to  study  in  this  position  until  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  Meanwhile,  I  and  others  who  chanced  to 
occupy  the  same  room  would  be  safely  and  soundly  asleep." 
Although  he  worked  so  late,  "he  was  in  the  habit  of  rising 
earlier  than  his  brothers  of  the  bar,"  says  Judge  Weldon. 
"On  such  occasions  he  was  wont  to  sit  by  the  fire,  having  un- 
covered the  coals,  and  muse,  ponder,  and  soliloquize." 

But  it  was  not  only  the  law  that  occupied  him.  He  began 
a  serious  course  of  general  education,  studying  mathematics, 
astronomy,  poetry,  as  regularly  as  a  school-boy  who  had  les- 
sons to  recite.  In  the  winter  of  1849-50  he  even  joined  a 
club  of  a  dozen  gentlemen  of  Springfield  who  had  begun  the 
study  of  German,  the  meetings  of  the  class  being  held  in  his 
office. 

Much  of  Lincoln's  devotion  to  study  at  this  period  was  due 
to  his  desire  to  bring  himself  in  general  culture  up  to  the 
men  whom  he  had  been  meeting  in  the  East.  No  man  ever 
realized  his  own  deficiencies  in  knowledge  and  experience 
more  deeply  than  Abraham  Lincoln,  nor  made  a  braver 
struggle  to  correct  them.  He  often  acknowledged  to  his 
friends  the  consciousness  he  had  of  his  own  limitations 
in  the  simplest  matters  of  life.  Mr.  H.  C.  Whitney, 
one  of  his  old  friends,  gives  a  pathetic  example  of  this. 
Once  on  the  circuit  his  friends  missed  him  after  supper. 
When  he  returned,  some  one  asked  where  he  had  been. 

"  Well,  I  have  been  to  a  little  show  up  at  the  Academy,"  he 
said. 

"He  sat  before  the  fire,"  says  Mr.  Whitney,  "and  narrated 
all  the  sights  of  that  most  primitive  of  county  shows,  given 


240  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

chiefly  to  school  children.  Next  night  he  was  missing  again; 
the  show  was  still  in  town,  and  he  stole  in  as  before,  and  en- 
tertained us  with  a  description  of  new  sights — a  magic  lan- 
tern, electrical  machine,  etc.  I  told  him  I  had  seen  all  these 
sights  at  school.  '  Yes/  said  he  sadly,  '  I  now  have  an  ad- 
vantage over  you,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  seeing  these 
things  which  are,  of  course,  common  to  those  who  had,  what 
I  did  not,  a  chance  at  an  education  when  they  were  young.' ' 

It  was  to  make  up  for  the  "chance  at  an  education"  which 
he  did  not  have  in  youth  that  Abraham  Lincoln  at  forty  years 
of  age,  after  having  earned  the  reputation  of  being  one  of 
the  ablest  politicians  in  Illinois,  spent  his  leisure  in  study. 


CHAPTER  XV 

LINCOLN   ON   THE   CIRCUIT HIS   HUMOR  AND  PERSUASIVE- 
NESS  HIS    MANNER    OF    PREPARING    CASES,    EXAMINING 

WITNESSES,  AND  ADDRESSING  JURIES 

WHEN  in  1849  Lincoln  decided  to  abandon  politics  finally 
and  to  devote  himself  to  the  law,  he  had  been  practising  for 
thirteen  years.  In  spite  of  the  many  interruptions  elec- 
tioneering and  office-holding  had  caused  he  was  well-estab- 
lished. Rejoining  his  partner  Herndon — the  firm  of  Lin- 
coln and  Herndon  had  been  only  a  name  during  Lincoln's 
term  in  Washington — he  took  up  the  law  with  a  singleness 
of  purpose  which  had  never  before  characterized  his  practice. 

Lincoln's  headquarters  were  in  Springfield,  but  his  prac- 
tice was  itinerant.  The  arrangements  for  the  administration 
of  justice  in  Illinois  in  the  early  days  were  suited  to  the  con- 
ditions of  the  country,  the  State  being  divided  into  judicial 
circuits  including  more  or  less  territory  according  to  the 
population.  To  each  circuit  a  judge  was  appointed,  who 
each  spring  and  fall  travelled  from  county-seat  to  county- 
seat  to  hold  court.  With  the  judge  travelled  a  certain  num- 
ber of  the  best-known  lawyers  of  the  district.  Each  lawyer 
had,  of  course,  a  permanent  office  in  one  of  the  county-seats, 
and  often  at  several  of  the  others  he  had  partners,  usually 
young  men  of  little  experience,  for  whom  he  acted  as  coun- 
sel in  special  cases.  This  peripatetic  court  prevailed  in  Illinois 
until  the  beginning  of  the  fifties;  but  for  many  years  after, 
when  the  towns  had  grown  so  large  that  a  clever  lawyer 
might  have  enough  to  do  in  his  own  county,  a  few  lawyers, 

241 


242 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


Lincoln  among  them,  who  from  long  association  felt  that, 
the  circuit  was  their  natural  habitat  refused  to  leave  it 

The  circuit  which  Lincoln  travelled  was  known  as  the 
"Eighth  Judicial  Circuit."  It  included  fifteen  counties  in 
1845,  though  the  territory  has  since  been  divided  into  more. 
It  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long  by  as  many 
broad.  There  were  no  railroads  in  the  Eighth  Circuit  until 
about  1854,  and  the  court  travelled  on  horseback  or  in  car- 
riages. Lincoln  had  no  horse  in  the  early  days  of  his  prac- 
tice. It  was  his  habit  then  to  borrow  one,  or  to  join  a  com- 
pany of  a  half  dozen  or  more  in  hiring  a  "three-seated  spring 
wagon."  Later  he  owned  a  turn-out  of  his  own,  which 
figures  in  nearly  all  the  traditions  of  the  Eighth  Circuit ;  the 
horse  being  described  as  "poky"  and  the  buggy  as  "rattling." 

There  was  much  that  was  irritating  and  uncomfortable  in 
the  circuit-riding  of  the  Illinois  court,  but  there  was  more 
which  was  amusing  to  a  temperament  like  Lincoln's.  The 
freedom,  the  long  days  in  the  open  air,  the  unexpected  if 
trivial  adventures,  the  meeting  with  wayfarers  and  settlers 
— all  was  an  entertainment  to  him.  He  found  humor  and 
human  interest  on  the  route  where  his  companions  saw  noth- 
ing but  commonplaces.  "He  saw  the  ludicrous  in  an  assem- 
blage of  fowls,"  says  H.  C.  Whitney,  one  of  his  fellow- 
itinerants,  "in  a  man  spading  his  garden,  in  a  clothes-line  full 
of  clothes,  in  a  group  of  boys,  in  a  lot  of  pigs  rooting  at  a 
mill  door,  in  a  mother  duck  teaching  her  brood  to  swim — in 
everything  and  anything."  The  sympathetic  observations 
of  these  long  rides  furnished  humorous  settings  for  some  of 
his  best  stories.  If  frequently  on  these  trips  he  fell  into 
sombre  reveries  and  rode  with  head  bent,  ignoring  his  com- 
panions, generally  he  took  part  in  all  the  frolicking  which 
went  on,  joining  in  practical  jokes,  singing  noisily  with  the 
rest,  sometimes  even  playing  a  Jew's-harp. 

When  the  county-seat  was  reached,  the  bench  and  ba£ 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT 


243 


quickly  settled  themselves  in  the  town  tavern.  It  was  usually 
a  large  two-story  house  with  big  rooms  and  long  verandas. 
There  was  little  exclusiveness  possible  in  these  hostelries. 


FACSIMILE  OF  MAP  Or  CIRCUIT  WHICH  LINCOLN  TRAVELLED  IN  PRACTISING  LAW 

Ordinarily  judge  and  lawyer  slept  two  in  a  bed,  and  thret 
or  four  beds  in  a  room.  They  ate  at  the  common  table  with 
jurors,  witnesses,  prisoners  out  on  bail,  travelling  peddlers* 


244 


LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 


teamsters,  and  laborers.  The  only  attempt  at  classification 
on  the  landlord's  part  was  seating  the  lawyers  in  a  group  at 
the  head  of  the  table.  Most  of  them  accepted  this  distinction 
complacently.  Lincoln,  however,  seemed  to  be  indifferent  to 
it.  One  day,  when  he  had  come  in  and  seated  himself  at  the 
foot  with  the  "fourth  estate,"  the  landlord  called  to  him, 
"You're  in  the  wrong  place,  Mr.  Lincoln ;  come  up  here." 

"Have  you  anything  better  to  eat  up  there,  Joe?"  he  in- 
quired quizzically;  "if  not,  I'll  stay  here." 

The  accommodations  of  the  taverns  were  often  unsatis- 
factory— the  food  poorly  cooked,  the  beds  hard.  Lincoln  ac- 
cepted everything  with  uncomplaining  good  nature,  though 
his  companions  habitually  growled  at  the  hardships  of  the 
life.  It  was  not  only  repugnance  to  criticism  which  might 
hurt  others,  it  was  the  indifference  of  one  whose  thoughts 
were  always  busy  with  problems  apart  from  physical  com- 
fort, who  had  little  notion  of  the  so-called  "  refinements  of 
life,"  and  almost  no  sense  of  luxury  and  ease. 

The  judge  naturally  was  the  leading  character  in  these 
nomadic  groups.  He  received  all  the  special  consideration 
the  democratic  spirit  of  the  inhabitants  bestowed  on  any  one, 
and  controlled  his  privacy  and  his  time  to  a  degree.  Judge 
David  Davis,  who  from  1848  presided  over  the  Eighth  Cir- 
cuit as  long  as  Mr.  Lincoln  travelled  it,  was  a  man  of  unusual 
force  of  character,  of  large  learning,  quick  impulses,  and 
strong  prejudices.  Lincoln  was  from  the  beginning  of  their 
association  a  favorite  with  Judge  Davis.  Unless  he  joined 
the  circle  which  the  judge  formed  in  his  room  after  supper, 
his  honor  was  impatient  and  distraught,  interrupting  the  con- 
versation constantly  by  demanding:  "Where's  Lincoln?" 
"Why  don't  Lincoln  come?"  And  when  Lincoln  did  come, 
the  judge  would  draw  out  story  after  story,  quieting  every- 
body who  interrupted  with  an  impatient,  "Mr.  Lincoln's  talk- 
ing." If  anyone  came  to  the  door  to  see  the  host  in  the  midst 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  245 

of  one  of  Lincoln's  stories  he  would  send  a  lawyer  into  the 
hall  to  see  what  was  wanted,  and,  as  soon  as  the  door  closed, 
order  Lincoln  to  "go  ahead." 

The  appearance  of  the  court  in  a  town  was  invariably  a 
stimulus  to  its  social  life.  In  all  of  the  county-seats  there 
were  a  few  fine  homes  of  which  the  dignity,  spaciousness, 
and  elegance  still  impress  the  traveller  through  Illinois.  The 
hospitality  of  these  houses  was  generous.  Dinners,  recep- 
tions, and  suppers  followed  one  another  as  soon  as  the  court 
began.  Lincoln  was  a  favorite  figure  at  all  these  gatherings. 

His  favorite  field,  however,  was  the  court.  The  court- 
houses of  Illinois  in  which  he  practised  were  not  log  houses, 
as  has  been  frequently  taken  for  granted.  "It  is  not  proba- 
ble," says  a  leading  member  of  the  Illinois  bar,  "Mr.  Lincoln 
ever  saw  a  log  court-house  in  central  Illinois,  where  he  prac- 
tised law,  unless  he  saw  one  at  Decatur,  in  Macon  County. 
In  a  conversation  between  three  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois,  all  of  whom  had  been  born  in  this  State  and 
had  lived  in  it  all  their  lives,  and  who  were  certainly  familiar 
with  the  central  portions  of  the  State,  all  declared  they  had 
never  seen  a  log  court-house  in  the  State." 

The  court-houses  in  which  Lincoln  practised  were  stiff, 
old-fashioned  wood  or  brick  structures,  usually  capped  by 
cupola  or  tower,  and  fronted  by  verandas  with  huge 
Doric  or  Ionic  pillars.  They  were  finished  inside  in  the  most 
uncompromising  style — hard  white  walls,  unpainted  wood- 
work, pine  floors,  wooden  benches.  Usually  they  were  heated 
by  huge  Franklin  stoves,  with  yards  of  stove-pipe  running 
wildly  through  the  air,  searching  for  an  exit,  and  threaten- 
ing momentarily  to  un joint  and  tumble  in  sections.  Few  of 
the  lawyers  had  offices  in  the  town ;  and  a  corner  of  the  court- 
room, the  shade  of  a  tree  in  the  court-yard,  a  sunny  side  of 
a  building,  were  where  they  met  their  clients  and  transacted 
business. 


246  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

In  the  courts  themselves  there  was  a  certain  indifference 
to  formality  engendered  by  the  primitive  surroundings, 
which,  however,  the  judges  never  allowed  to  interfere  with 
the  seriousness  of  the  work.  Lincoln  habitually,  when  not 
busy,  whispered  stories  to  his  neighbors,  frequently  to  the 
annoyance  of  Judge  Davis.  If  Lincoln  persisted  too  long, 
the  judge  would  rap  on  the  chair  and  exclaim :  "Come,  come, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  I  can't  stand  this !  There  is  no  use  trying  to 
carry  on  two  courts;  I  must  adjourn  mine  or  you  yours,  and 
I  think  you  will  have  to  be  the  one."  As  soon  as  the  group 
had  scattered,  the  judge  would  call  one  of  the  men  to  him 
and  ask:  "What  was  that  Lincoln  was  telling?" 

"I  was  never  fined  but  once  for  contempt  of  court,"  says 
one  of  the  clerks  of  the  court  in  Lincoln's  day.  "Davis  fined 
me  five  dollars  Mr.  Lincoln  had  just  come  in,  and  leaning 
over  my  desk  had  told  me  a  story  so  irresistibly  funny  that 
I  broke  out  into  a  loud  laugh.  The  judge  called  me  to  order 
in  haste,  saying,  This  must  be  stopped.  Mr.  Lincoln,  you 
are  constantly  disturbing  this  court  with  your  stories/  Then 
to  me,  'You  may  fine  yourself  five  dollars  for  your  disturb- 
ance/ I  apologized,  but  told  the  judge  that  the  story  was 
worth  the  money.  In  a  few  minutes  the  judge  called  me  to 
him.  *  What  was  the  story  Lincoln  told  you  ?  '  he  asked.  I 
told  him,  and  he  laughed  aloud  in  spite  of  himself.  '  Remit 
your  fine,'  he  ordered." 

The  partiality  of  Judge  Davis  for  Lincoln  was  shared  by 
the  members  of  the  court  generally.  The  unaffected  friendli- 
ness and  helpfulness  of  his  nature  had  more  to  do  with  this 
than  his  wit  and  cleverness.  If  there  was  a  new  clerk  in 
court,  a  stranger  unused  to  the  ways  of  the  place,  Lincoln 
was  the  first — sometimes  the  only  one — to  shake  hands  with 
him  and  congratulate  him  on  his  election. 

"No  lawyer  on  the  circuit  was  more  unassuming  than  was 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  247 

Mr.  Lincoln,"  says  one  who  practised  with  him.  "He  arro- 
gated to  himself  no  superiority  over  anyone — not  even  the 
most  obscure  member  of  the  bar.  He  treated  everyone  with 
that  simplicity  and  kindness  that  friendly  neighbors  manifest 
in  their  relations  with  one  another.  He  was  remarkably  gen- 
tle with  young  lawyers  becoming  permanent  residents  at  the 
several  county-seats  in  the  circuit  where  he  had  practised  for 
so  many  years.  .  .  .  The  result  was,  he  became  the 
much-beloved  senior  member  of  the  bar.  No  young  lawyer 
ever  practised  in  the  courts  with  Mr.  Lincoln  who  did  not  in 
all  his  after  life  have  a  regard  for  him  akin  to  personal  af- 
fection." 

"I  remember  with  what  confidence  I  always  went  to  him," 
says  Judge  Lawrence  Welden,  who  first  knew  Lincoln  at  the 
bar  in  1854,  "because  I  was  certain  he  knew  all  about  the 
matter  and  would  most  cheerfully  help  me.  I  can  see  him 
now,  through  the  decaying  memories  of  thirty  years,  stand- 
ing in  the  corner  of  the  old  court- room ;  and  as  I  approached 
him  with  a  paper  I  did  not  understand,  he  said,  'Wait  until 
I  fix  this  plug  of  my  "gallis"  and  I  will  pitch  into  that  like  a 
dog  at  a  root/  While  speaking  he  was  busily  engaged  in 
trying  to  connect  his  suspenders  with  his  pants  by  making  a 
plug  perform  the  function  of  a  button." 

If  for  any  reason  Lincoln  was  absent  from  court,  he  was 
missed  perhaps  as  no  other  man  on  the  Eighth  Circuit  would 
have  been,  and  his  return  greeted  joyously.  He  was  not 
less  happy  himself  to  rejoin  his  friends.  "Ain't  you  glad  I've 
come?"  he  would  call  out,  as  he  came  up  to  shake  hands. 

The  cases  which  fell  to  Lincoln  on  the  Eighth  Circuit  were 
of  the  sort  common  to  a  new  country.  Litigation  over  bor- 
dering lines  and  deeds,  over  damages  by  wandering  cattle, 
over  broils  at  country  festivities.  Few  of  the  cases  were  of 
large  importance.  When  a  client  came  to  Lincoln  his  first 


248  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

effort  was  to  arrange  matters,  if  possible,  and  to  avoid  a  suit 
In  a  few  notes  for  a  law  lecture  prepared  about  1850,  he 
says: 

"Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neighbors  to  com- 
promise whenever  you  can.  Point  out  to  them  how  the 
nominal  winner  is  often  a  real  loser — in  fees,  expenses,  and 
waste  of  time.  As  a  peacemaker  the  lawyer  has  a  superior 
opportunity  of  being  a  good  man.  There  will  still  be  busi- 
ness enough. 

"Never  stir  up  litigation.  A  worse  man  can  scarcely  be 
found  than  one  who  does  this.  Who  can  be  more  nearly  a 
fiend  than  he  who  habitually  overhauls  the  register  of  deeds 
in  search  of  defects  in  titles,  whereon  to  stir  up  strife,  and 
put  money  in  his  pocket  ?  A  moral  tone  ought  to  be  infused 
into  the  profession  which  should  drive  such  men  out  of  it." 

He  carried  out  this  in  his  practice.  "Who  was  your 
guardian  ?"  he  asked  a  young  man  who  came  to  him  to  com- 
plain that  a  part  of  the  property  left  him  had  been  withheld. 
"Enoch  Kingsbury,"  replied  the  young  man. 

"I  know  Mr.  Kingsbury,"  said  Lincoln,  "and  he  is  not  the 
man  to  have  cheated  you  out  of  a  cent,  and  I  can't  take  the 
case,  and  advise  you  to  drop  the  subject."  And  it  was 
dropped. 

"We  shall  not  take  your  case,"  he  said  to  a  man  who  had 
shown  that  by  a  legal  technicality  he  could  win  property 
worth  six  hundred  dollars.  "You  must  remember  that  some 
things  legally  right  are  not  morally  right.  We  shall  not  take 
your  case,  but  will  give  you  a  little  advice  for  which  we  will 
charge  you  nothing.  You  seem  to  be  a  sprightly,  energetic 
man ;  we  would  advise  you  to  try  your  hand  at  making  six 
hundred  dollars  in  some  other  way." 

Where  he  saw  injustice  he  was  quick  to  offer  his  services 
to  the  wronged  party.  A  pleasant  example  of  this  is  related 
by  Joseph  Jefferson  in  his  "Autobiography."  In  1839,  Jef- 
ferson, then  a  lad  of  ten  years,  travelled  through  Illinois 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  249 

with  his  father's  theatrical  company.  After  playing  at  Chi- 
cago, Quincy,  Peoria  and  Pekin,  the  company  went  in  the 
fall  to  Springfield,  where  the  sight  of  the  legislature  tempted 
the  elder  Jefferson  and  his  partner  to  remain  throughout  the 
season.  But  there  was  no  theatre.  Not  to  be  daunted  they 
built  one.  But  hardly  had  they  completed  it  before  a  re- 
ligious revival  broke  out  in  the  town,  and  the  church  people 
turned  all  their  influence  against  the  theatre.  So  effectually 
did  they  work  that  a  law  was  passed  by  the  municipality  im- 
posing a  license  which  was  practically  prohibitory.  "In  the 
midst  of  our  trouble,"  says  Jefferson,  "a  young  lawyer  called 
on  the  managers.  He  had  heard  of  the  injustice,  and  offered, 
if  they  would  place  the  matter  in  his  hands,  to  have  the  license 
taken  off,  declaring  that  he  only  desired  to  see  fair  play,  and 
he  would  accept  no  fee  whether  he  failed  or  succeeded.  The 
young  lawyer  began  his  harangue.  He  handled  the  subject 
with  tact,  skill,  and  humor,  tracing  the  history  of  the  drama 
from  the  time  when  Thespis  acted  in  a  cart  to  the  stage  of 
to-day.  He  illustrated  his  speech  with  a  number  of  anecdotes, 
and  kept  the  council  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  His  good  humor 
prevailed,  and  the  exorbitant  tax  was  taken  off."  The 
"young  lawyer"  was  Lincoln. 

Having  accepted  a  case,  Lincoln's  first  object  seemed  to  be 
to  reduce  it  to  its  simplest  elements.  "If  I  can  clean  this  case 
of  technicalities,  and  get  it  properly  swung  to  the  jury,  I'll 
win  it,"  he  told  his  partner  Herndon  one  day.  He  began  by 
getting  at  what  seemed  to  him  the  pivot  on  which  it  rested. 
Sure  of  that,  he  cared  little  for  anything  else.  He  trusted 
very  little  to  books;  a  great  deal  to  common  sense  and  his 
ideas  of  right  and  wrong. 

"In  the  make  of  his  character  Mr.  Lincoln  had  many  ele- 
ments essential  to  the  successful  circuit  lawyer,"  says  one  of 
his  fellow-practitioners.  "He  knew  much  of  the  law  as  writ- 
ten in  the  books,  and  had  that  knowledge  ready  for  use  at  all 


250  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

times.  That  was  a  valuable  possession  in  the  absence  of  law 
books,  where  none  were  obtainable  on  the  circuit.  But  he 
had  more  than  a  knowledge  of  the  law.  He  knew  right  and 
justice,  and  knew  how  to  make  their  application  to  the  af- 
fairs of  every-day  life.  That  was  an  element  in  his  charac- 
ter that  gave  him  power  to  prevail  with  the  jury  when  argu- 
ing a  case  before  them.  Few  lawyers  ever  had  the  influence 
with  a  jury  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had." 

When  a  case  was  clear  to  him  and  he  was  satisfied  of  its 
justice,  he  trusted  to  taking  advantage  of  the  developments 
of  the  trial  to  win.  For  this  reason  he  made  few  notes  be- 
forehand, rarely  writing  out  his  plan  of  argument.  Those 
he  left  are  amusingly  brief ;  for  instance,  the  notes  made  for 


£?$, 


FACSIMILE  OF  A  LINCOLN  MEMORANDUM. 

Prom  the  Lincoln  collection  in  the  law  offices  of  Messrs.  Vanuxem  &  Potter,  of  Philadel- 
phia. This  characteristic  memorandum  was  found  by  Messrs.  Herndon  &  Weik  in  looking 
over  the  papers  in  Lincoln's  law  office.  It  was  the  label  to  a  package  of  letters,  pamphlets, 
and  newspapers  which  he  had  tied  together  and  marked. 

a  suit  he  had  brought  against  a  pension  agent  who  had  with- 
held as  fee  half  .of  the  pension  he  had  obtained  for  the  aged 
widow  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  Lincoln  was  deeply  in- 
dignant at  the  agent,  and  had  resolved  to  win  his  suit.  He 
read  up  the  Revolutionary  war  afresh,  and  when  he  came 
to  address  the  jury  drew  a  harrowing  picture  of  the  private 
soldier's  sufferings  and  of  the  trials  of  his  separation  from 
his  wife.  The  notes  for  this  argument  ran  as  follows  : 

"No  contract  —  Not  professional  services.  Unreasonable 
charge,  —  Money  retained  by  Deft  not  given  by  Pl'ff.  — 
Revolutionary  War.  —  Soldier's  bleeding  feet.  —  Pl'ff's  hus- 
band. —  Soldier  leaving  home  for  army.  —  S&w  deft.—* 
Close." 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  251 

Lincoln's  reason  for  not  taking  notes,  as  he  told  it  to  H. 
W.  Beckwith,  when  a  student  in  the  Danville  office  of  Lin- 
coln and  Lamon,  was :  "  Notes  are  a  bother,  taking  time  to 
make,  and  more  to  hunt  them  up  afterwards;  lawyers  who 
do  so  soon  get  the  habit  of  referring  to  them  so  much  that 
it  confuses  and  tires  the  jury."  "  He  relied  on  his  well- 
trained  memory/'  says  Mr.  Beckwith,  "  that  recorded  and 
indexed  every  passing  detail.  And  by  his  skilful  questions, 
a  joke,  or  pat  retort  as  the  trial  progressed,  he  steered  his 
jury  from  the  bayous  and  eddies  of  side  issues  and  kept 
them  clear  of  the  snags  and  sandbars,  if  any  were  put  in  the 
real  channel  of  his  case." 

Much  of  his  strength  lay  in  his  skill  in  examining  wit- 
nesses. "He  had  a  most  remarkable  talent  for  examining 
witnesses,"  says  an  intimate  associate;  "with  him  it  was  a 
rare  gift.  It  was  a  power  to  compel  a  witness  to  disclose  the 
whole  truth.  Even  a  witness  at  first  unfriendly,  under  his 
kindly  treatment  would  finally  become  friendlv.  and  would 
wish  to  tell  nothing  he  could  honestly  avoid  against  him,  if 
he  could  state  nothing  for  him." 

He  could  not  endure  an  unfair  use  of  testimony  or  the 
misrepresentation  of  his  own  position.  "In  the  Harrison 
murder  case,"  says  Mr.  T.  W.  S.  Kidd  of  Springfield,  a  crier 
of  the  court  in  Lincoln's  day,  "the  prosecuting  attorney 
stated  that  such  a  witness  made  a  certain  statement,  when 
Mr.  Lincoln  rose  and  made  such  a  plaintive  appeal  to  the  at- 
torney to  correct  the  statement,  that  the  attorney  actually 
made  the  amende  honorable,  and  afterwards  remarked  to  a 
brother  lawyer  that  he  could  deny  his  own  child's  appeal  as 
quickly  as  he  could  Mr.  Lincoln's." 

Sometimes  under  provocation  he  became  violently  angry. 
In  the  murder  case  referred  to  above,  the  judge  ruled  con- 
trary to  his  expectations,  and,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  contrary 
to  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  similar  case.  "Both 


252  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Judge  Logan,  who  was  with  him  in  the 
case,"  says  Mr.  Kidd,  "rose  to  their  feet  quick  as  thought.  I 
do  think  he  was  the  most  unearthly  looking  man  I  had  ever 
seen.  He  roared  like  a  lion  suddenly  aroused  from  his  lair, 
and  said  and  did  more  in  ten  minutes  than  I  ever  heard  him 
say  or  saw  him  do  before  in  an  hour." 

He  depended  a  great  deal  upon  his  stories  in  pleading, 
using  them  as  illustrations  which  demonstrated  the  case  more 
conclusively  than  argument  could  have  done.  Judge  H.  W. 
Beckwith  of  Danville,  Illinois,  in  his  "Personal  Recollections 
of  Lincoln,"  tells  a  story  which  is  a  good  example  of  Lin- 
coln's way  of  condensing  the  law  and  the  facts  of  an  issue  in 
a  story. 

"A  man,  by  vile  words,  first  provoked  and  then  made  a 
bodily  attack  upon  another.  The  latter  in  defending  him- 
self gave  the  other  much  the  worst  of  the  encounter.  The 
aggressor,  to  get  even,  had  the  one  who  thrashed  him  tried 
in  our  circuit  court  upon  a  charge  of  an  assault  and  battery. 
Mr.  Lincoln  defended,  and  told  the  jury  that  his  client  was 
in  the  fix  of  a  man  who,  in  going  along  the  highway  with  a 
pitchfork  on  his  shoulder,  was  attacked  by  a  fierce  dog  that 
ran  out  at  him  from  a  farmer's  door-yard.  In  parrying  off 
the  brute  with  the  fork  its  prongs  stuck  into  the  brute  and 
killed  him. 

"  'What  made  you  kill  my  dog?'  said  the  farmer. 

"  'What  made  him  try  to  bite  me?' 

"  'But  why  did  you  not  go  at  him  with  the  other  end  of 
the  pitchfork?' 

"  'Why  did  he  not  come  after  me  with  his  other  end  ?'  At 
this  Mr.  Lincoln  whirled  about  in  his  long  arms  an  imagin- 
ary dog  and  pushed  its  tail  end  toward  the  jury.  This  was 
the  defensive  plea  of  'son  assault  demesne' — loosely,  that  'the 
other  fellow  brought  on  the  fight/ — quickly  told,  and  in  a 
way  the  dullest  mind  would  grasp  and  retain." 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  253 

Mr.  T.  W.  S.  Kidd  says  that  he  once  heard  a  lawyer  op- 
posed to  Lincoln  trying  to  convince  a  jury  that  precedent  was 
superior  to  law,  and  that  custom  made  things  legal  in  all 
cases.  When  Lincoln  arose  to  answer  him  he  told  the  jury 
he  would  argue  his  case  in  the  same  way.  Said  he:  "Old 
'Squire  Bagly,  from  Menard,  came  into  rny  office  and  said, 
'Lincoln,  I  want  your  advice  as  a  lawyer.  Has  a  man  what's 
been  elected  justice  of  the  peace  a  right  to  issue  a  marriage 
license?'  I  told  him  he  had  not;  when  the  old  'squire  threw 
himself  'back  in  his  chair  very  indignantly,  and  said :  'Lin- 
coln, I  thought  you  was  a  lawyer.  Now  Bob  Thomas  and 
me  had  a  bet  on  this  thing,  and  we  agreed  to  let  you  decide ; 
but  if  this  is  your  opinion  I  don't  want  it,  for  I  know  a 
thunderin'  sight  better,  for  I  have  been  'squire  now  eight 
years  and  have  done  it  all  the  time/  ' 

His  manner  of  telling  stories  was  most  effective.  "When 
he  chose  to  do  so,"  writes  Judge  Scott,  "  he  could  place  the 
opposite  party,  and  his  counsel  too,  for  that  matter,  in  a  most 
ridiculous  attitude  by  relating  in  his  inimitable  way  a  perti- 
nent story.  That  often  gave  him  a  great  advantage  with  the 
jury.  A  young  lawyer  had  brought  an  action  in  trespass  to 
recover  damages  done  to  his  client's  growing  crops  by  de- 
fendant's hogs.  The  right  of  action  under  the  law  of  Illinois, 
as  it  was  then,  depended  on  the  fact  whether  plaintiff's  fence 
was  sufficient  to  turn  ordinary  stock.  There  was  some  little 
conflict  in  the  evidence  on  that  question;  but  the  weight  of 
the  testimony  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  plaintiff,  and  sus- 
tained beyond  all  doubt  his  cause  of  action.  Mr.  Lincoln  ap- 
peared for  defendant.  There  was  no  controversy  as  to  the 
damage  done  by  defendant's  stock.  The  only  thing  in  the 
case  that  could  possibly  admit  of  any  discussion  was  the  con- 
dition of  plaintiff's  fence;  and  as  the  testimony  on  that  ques- 
tion seemed  to  be  in  favor  of  plaintiff,  and  as  the  sum  in- 
volved was  little  in  amount,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  deem  it  nee- 


254  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

essary  to  argue  the  case  seriously,  but  by  way  of  saying 
something  in  behalf  of  his  client  he  told  a  little  story  about  a 
fence  that  was  so  crooked  that  when  a  hog  went  through  an 
opening  in  it,  invariably  it  came  out  on  the  same  side  from 
whence  it  started.  His  description  of  the  confused  look  of 
the  hog  after  several  times  going  through  the  fence  and  still 
finding  itself  on  the  side  from  which  it  had  started,  was  a 
humorous  specimen  of  the  best  story-telling.  The  effect  was 
to  make  plaintiff's  case  appear  ridiculous;  and  while  Mr. 
Lincoln  did  not  attempt  to  apply  the  story  to  the  case,  the 
jury  seemed  to  think  it  had  some  kind  of  application  to  the 
fence  in  controversy — otherwise  he  would  not  have  told  it — 
and  shortly  returned  a  verdict  for  the  defendant." 

Those  unfamiliar  with  his  methods  frequently  took  his 
stories  as  an  effort  to  wring  a  laugh  from  the  jury.  A  law- 
yer, a  stranger  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  once  expressed  to  General 
Linder  the  opinion  that  this  practice  of  Lincoln  was  a  waste 
of  time.  "Don't  lay  that  flattering  unction  to  your  soul," 
Linder  answered ;  "Lincoln  is  like  Tansey's  horse,  he  'breaks 
to  win/  " 

But  it  was  not  his  stories,  it  was  his  clearness  which  was 
his  strongest  point.  He  meant  that  the  jury  should  see  that 
he  was  right.  For  this  reason  he  never  used  a  word  which 
the  dullest  juryman  could  not  understand.  Rarely,  if  ever, 
did  a  Latin  term  creep  into  his  arguments.  A  lawyer  quot- 
ing a  legal  maxim  one  day  in  court,  turned  to  Lincoln,  and 
said:  "That  is  so,  is  it  not,  Mr.  Lincoln?" 

"If  that's  Latin,"  Lincoln  replied,  "you  had  better  call  an- 
other witness." 

His  illustrations  were  almost  always  of  the  homeliest  kind. 
He  did  not  care  to  "go  among  the  ancients  for  figures,"  he 
said. 

"  Much  of  the  force  of  his  argument,"  writes  Judge  Scott, 
"  lay  in  his  logical  statement  of  the  facts  of  a  case.  When 


TRAVELLING  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  255 

he  had  in  that  way  secured  a  clear  understanding  of  the  facts, 
the  jury  and  the  court  would  seem  naturally  to  follow  him  in 
his  conclusions  as  to  the  law  of  the  case.  His  simple  and 
natural  presentation  of  the  facts  seemed  to  give  the  impres- 
sion that  the  jury  were  themselves  making  the  statement. 
He  had  the  happy  and  unusual  faculty  of  making  the  jury 
believe  they — and  not  he — were  trying  the  case.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln kept  himself  in  the  background,  and  apparently  assumed 
nothing  more  than  to  be  an  assistant  counsel  to  the  court  or 
the  jury,  on  whom  the  primary  responsibility  for  the  final 
decision  of  the  case  in  fact  rested." 

He  rarely  consulted  books  during  a  trial,  lest  he  lose  the  at- 
tention of  the  jury,  and  if  obliged  to,  translated  their  state- 
ments into  the  simplest  terms.  In  his  desire  to  keep  his  case 
clear  he  rarely  argued  points  which  seemed  to  him  unessen- 
tial. "In  law  it  is  good  policy  never  to  plead  what  you  need 
not,  lest  you  oblige  yourself  to  prove  what  you  can  not/'  he 
wrote.  He  would  thus  give  away  point  after  point  with  an 
indifferent  "I  reckon  that's  so,"  until  the  point  which  he  con- 
sidered pivotal  was  reached,  and  there  he  hung. 

"In  making  a  speech,"  says  Mr.  John  Hill,  "Mr.  Lincoln 
was  the  plainest  man  I  ever  heard.  He  was  not  a  speaker  but 
a  talker.  He  talked  to  jurors  and  to  political  gatherings 
plain,  sensible,  candid  talk,  almost  as  in  conversation,  no  ef- 
fort whatever  in  oratory.  But  his  talking  had  wonderful  ef- 
fect. Honesty,  candor,  fairness,  everything  that  was  con- 
vincing, were  in  his  manner  and  expressions." 

This  candor  of  which  Mr.  Hill  speaks  characterized  his 
entire  conduct  of  a  trial.  "It  is  well  understood  by  the  pro- 
fession," says  General  Mason  Brayman,  "that  lawyers  do  not 
read  authorities  favoring  the  opposing  side.  I  once  heard 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  reading  from  a 
reported  case  some  strong  points  in  favor  of  his  argument 
Reading  a  little  too  far,  and  before  becoming  aware  of  it,  he 


256  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

plunged  into  an  authority  against  himself.  Pausing  a  mo- 
ment, he  drew  up  his  shoulders  in  a  comical  way,  and  half 
laughing,  went  on,  'There,  there,  may  it  please  the  court,  I 
reckon  I've  scratched  up  a  snake.  But,  as  I'm  in  for  it,  I 
guess  I'll  read  it  through.'  Then,  in  his  most  ingenious  and 
matchless  manner,  he  went  on  with  his  argument,  and  won 
his  case,  convincing  the  court  that  it  was  not  much  of  a  snake 
after  all/' 


CHAPTER  XVI 
LINCOLN'S  IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES — DEFENCE  OF  A  SLAVE 

GIRL THE     MCCORMICK  'CASE THE     ARMSTRONG     MUR- 
DER   CASE THE    ROCK    ISLAND    BRIDGE    CASE 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  place  in  the  legal  circle  of  Illinois 
has  never  been  clearly  defined.  The  ordinary  impression  is 
that,  though  he  was  a  faithful  and  trusted  lawyer,  he  never 
rose  to  the  first  rank  of  his  profession.  This  idea  has  come 
from  imperfect  information  concerning  his  legal  career.  An 
examination  of  the  reports  of  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court 
from  1840,  when  he  tried  his  first  case  before  that  body,  to 
1 86 1,  when  he  gave  up  his  profession  to  become  President  of 
the  United  States,  shows  that  in  this  period  of  twenty  years, 
broken  as  it  was,  from  1847  to  I&49>  °y  a  term  m  Congress, 
and  interrupted  constantly,  from  1854  to  1860,  by  his  labors 
in  opposition  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  Lin- 
coln was  engaged  in  nearly  one  hundred  cases  before  that 
court,  some  of  them  of  great  importance.  This  fact  shows 
him  to  have  been  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  his  State. 
Between  ninety  and  one  hundred  cases  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  a  State  in  twenty  years  is  a  record  surpassed  by  but 
few  lawyers.  It  was  exceeded  by  none  of  Lincoln's  Illinois 
contemporaries. 

Among  the  cases  in  which  he  was  prominent  and  of  which 
we  have  reports,  there  are  several  of  dramatic  import, 
viewing  them,  as  we  can  now,  in  connection  with  his 
later  life.  One  of  the  first  in  which  he  appeared  before  the 
Illinois  Supreme  Court  involved  the  freedom  of  a  negro  girl 
called  Nance.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Illinois  had  been  f rer 

257 


258  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

since  its  admission  as  a  State,  many  traces  of  slavery  still 
remained,  particularly  in  the  southern  and  central  parts 
of  the  State.  Among  the  scattered  slaveholders  was  one 
Nathan  Cromwell  of  Tazewell  County,  who  for  some  years 
had  in  his  service  a  negro  girl,  Nance.  He  claimed  that 
Nance  was  bound  to  him  by  indenture,  and  that  he  had  the 
right  to  sell  her  as  any  other  property,  a  right  he  succeeded 
finally  in  exercising.  One  of  his  neighbors,  Baily  by  name, 
bought  the  girl ;  but  the  purchase  was  conditional :  Baily  was 
to  pay  for  his  property  only  when  he  received  from  Cromwell 
title  papers  showing  that  Nance  was  bound  to  serve  under 
the  laws  of  the  State.  These  papers  Cromwell  failed  to  pro- 
duce before  his  death.  Later  his  heirs  sued  Baily  for  the 
purchase  price.  Baily  employed  Lincoln  to  defend  him.  The 
case  was  tried  in  September,  1839,  and  decided  against  Baily. 
Then  in  July,  1841,  it  was  tried  again,  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State.  Lincoln  proved  that  Nance  had  lived  for 
several  years  in  the  State,  that  she  was  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  that  she  had  declared  herself  to  be  free,  and  that  she 
had  even  purchased  goods  on  her  own  account.  The  list  of 
authorities  he  used  in  the  trial  to  prove  that  Nance  could 
not  be  held  in  bondage  shows  that  he  was  already  familiar 
with  both  Federal  and  State  legislation  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion up  to  that  date.  He  went  back  to  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  to  show  that  slavery  was  forbidden  in  the  Northwest 
Territory;  he  recalled  the  Constitution  that  had  made  the 
State  free  in  1818;  he  showed  that  by  the  law  of  nations  no 
person  can  be  sold  in  a  free  State.  His  argument  convinced 
the  court;  the  judgment  of  the  lower  court  was  overruled, 
and  Nance  was  free. 

After  Lincoln's  return  from  Congress  in  1849,  ne  was  en~ 
gaged  in  some  of  the  most  important  cases  of  the  day.  One 
of  these  was  a  contest  between  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad, 
at  that  time  building,  and  McLean  County,  Illinois.  This 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  259 

road  had  been  exempted  by  the  legislature  from  all  State 
taxation  on  condition  that  it  pay  perpetually  into  the  State 
treasury  seven  per  cent,  of  its  annual  gross  earnings.  When 
the  line  was  laid  in  McLean  County  the  county  authorities 
declared  that  the  State  legislature  could  not  excuse  the  rail- 
road company  from  paying  county  taxes;  accordingly  the 
company's  property  was  assessed  and  a  tax  levied.  If  this 
claim  of  the  county  could  be  sustained,  it  was  certain  to  kill 
the  railroad;  and  great  preparations  were  made  for  the  de- 
fence. The  solicitor  of  the  Illinois  Central  at  that  time  was 
General  Mason  Brayman,  who  retained  Lincoln.  The  case 
was  tried  at  Bloomington,  before  the  supreme  court,  and, 
largely  through  the  efforts  of  Lincoln,  was  won  for  the  road. 
According  to  Herndon,  Lincoln  charged  for  his  services  a 
fee  of  two  thousand  dollars.  Going  to  Chicago  he  presented 
his  bill.  "Why,"  said  the  officer  to  whom  he  applied,  "this  is 
as  much  as  a  first-class  lawyer  would  have  charged." 

Stung  by  the  ungrateful  speech,  Lincoln  withdrew  the  bill, 
left  the  office,  and  at  the  first  opportunity  submitted  the  mat- 
ter to  his  friends.  Five  thousand  dollars,  they  all  agreed, 
was  a  moderate  fee,  considering  what  he  had  done  for  the 
road,  and  six  leading  lawyers  of  the  State  signed  a  paper  in 
which  they  declared  that  such  a  charge  would  not  be  "un- 
reasonable." Lincoln  then  sued  the  road  for  that  amount, 
and  won  his  case.  "He  gave  me  my  half,"  says  Herndon; 
"and  as  much  as  we  deprecated  the  avarice  of  great  corpora- 
tions, we  both  thanked  the  Lord  for  letting  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  fall  into  our  hands." 

The  current  version  of  this  story  names  General  George  B. 
McClellan  as  the  testy  official  who  snubbed  Lincoln  when  he 
presented  the  bill.  This  could  not  have  been.  The  incident 
occurred  in  1855;  that  year  Captain  McClellan  spent  in  the 
Crimea,  as  one  of  a  commission  of  three  sent  abroad  to  study 
the  European  military  service  as  disolayed  in  the  Crimean 


260  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

war.  It  was  not  until  January,  1857,  tnat  McClellan  re- 
signed his  commission  in  the  United  States  army  to  become 
the  chief  engineer,  and  afterwards  vice-president,  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad.  It  was  when  an  officer  of  the  Illinois 
Central,  however,  that  McClellan  first  met  Lincoln.  "Long 
before  the  war,"  he  says,  in  "McClellan's  Own  Story," 
"when  vice-president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  I  knew 
Mr.  Lincoln,  for  he  was  one  of  the  counsel  of  the  company. 
More  than  once  I  have  been  with  him  in  out-of-the-way 
county-seats  where  some  important  case  was  being  tried,  and, 
in  the  lack  of  sleeping  accommodations,  have  spent  the  night 
in  front  of  a  stove,  listening  to  the  unceasing  flow  of  anec- 
dotes from  his  lips.  He  was  never  at  a  loss,  and  I  could 
never  quite  make  up  my  mind  how  many  of  them  he  had 
really  heard  before,  and  how  many  he  invented  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment.  His  stories  were  seldom  refined,  but  were 
always  to  the  point." 

It  was  through  his  legal  practice  that  Lincoln  first  met 
still  another  man  who  was  to  sustain  a  relation  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  him  in  the  war.  This  man  was  Edwin 
M.  Stanton.  The  meeting  occurred  in  Cincinnati  in  1855,  in 
connection  with  a  patent  case  which  is  famous  in  the  legal 
history  of  the  country,  and  in  which  both  Lincoln  and  Stan- 
ton  had  been  retained  as  counsel.  So  much  that  is  false  has 
been  written  of  this  meeting,  that  a  full  and  exact  statement 
of  the  circumstances  has  been  obtained  for  this  work  from 
Mr.  George  Harding  of  Philadelphia,  the  only  one  of  either 
judges  or  counsel  in  the  case  living  at  this  writing. 

"Cyrus  H.  McCormick  owned  reaping-machine  patents 
granted  in  1845  and  1847,"  says  Mr.  Harding,  "upon  which 
he  sued  John  M.  Manny  and  Co.  of  Rockford,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Manny  had  obtained  patents  also.  Manny  and  Co.  were 
large  manufacturers  of  reaping-machines  under  Manny's 
patents.  McCormick  contended  that  his  patents  were  valid 
and  secured  to  him  a  virtual  monopoly  of  all  practical  reap- 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  261 

ing  machines  as  constructed  at  that  date.  If  McCormick  had 
been  successful  in  his  contention,  Manny  would  have  been 
enjoined,  his  factory  stopped,  and  a  claim  of  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  damages  demanded  from  his  firm.  McCor- 
mick's  income  from  that  monopoly  would  have  been  vastly 
increased.  Hence  the  suit  was  very  important  to  all  parties 
and  to  the  farming  public.  The  plaintiff  McCormick  had  re- 
tained Mr.  E.  N.  Dickerson  and  Reverdy  Johnson.  The 
former  was  entrusted  with  the  preparation  of  the  plaintiff's 
case  and  the  argument  before  the  court  on  the  mechanics  of 
the  case.  Mr.  P.  H.  Watson,  who  had  procured  Manny's 
patents,  was  given  by  Manny  the  entire  control  of  the  de- 
fendant's case,  He  employed  Mr.  George  Harding  to  pre- 
pare the  defence  for  Manny,  and  to  argue  the  mechanics  of 
the  case  before  the  court.  In  those  times  it  was  deemed  im- 
portant in  patent  cases  to  employ  associate  counsel  not  spe- 
cially familiar  with  mechanical  questions,  but  of  high  stand- 
ing in  the  general  practice  of  the  law,  and  of  recognized 
forensic  ability.  If  such  counsel  represented  the  defendant 
he  urged  upon  the  court  the  importance  of  treating  the 
patentee  as  a  quasi-monopolist,  whose  claims  should  be 
limited  to  the  precise  mechanical  contributions  which  he  had 
made  to  the  art;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  plaintiff's 
forensic  counsel  was  expected  to  dwell  upon  the  privations 
and  labor  of  the  patentee,  and  insist  on  a  very  liberal  view 
of  his  claims,  and  to  hold  that  defendants  who  had  appro- 
priated any  of  his  ideas  should  be  treated  as  pirates.  The 
necessity  of  the  forensic  contribution  in  the  argument  of 
patent  cases  is  not  now  recognized. 

"McCormick  had  selected  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson  for  the 
forensic  part  of  his  case.  Mr.  Watson  was  in  doubt  as  to 
whom  to  select  to  perform  this  duty  for  the  defendants.  At 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Manny,  Mr.  Watson  wrote  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, sending  to  him  a  retainer  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and 
requesting  him  to  read  the  testimony,  which  was  sent  to  him 
from  time  to  time  as  taken,  so  that  if  Mr.  Watson  afterward 
concluded  to  have  him  argue  the  case  he  would  be  prepared. 
Mr.  Harding  had  urged  the  employment  of  Mr.  Stanton, 
who  was  personally  known  to  him,  and  who  then  resided  at 
Pittsburg. 


262  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"With  a  view  to  determining  finally  who  should  argtte  the 
forensic  part  of  Manny's  case,  Mr.  Watson  personally  visited 
Springfield  and  conferred  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  On  his  way 
back  from  Springfield  he  called  upon  Mr.  Stanton  at  Pitts- 
burg,  and,  after  a  conference,  retained  Mr.  Stanton,  and  in- 
formed him  distinctly  that  he  was  to  make  the  closing  argu- 
ment in  the  case.  Nevertheless  Mr.  Lincoln  was  sent  copies 
of  the  testimony ;  he  studied  the  testimony,  and  was  paid  for 
so  doing,  the  same  as  Mr.  Stanton.  Mr.  Watson  considered 
that  it  would  be  prudent  for  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  prepared,  in 
case  of  Mr.  Stanton's  inability,  for  any  cause,  to  argue  the 
case;  so  that,  at  the  outset,  Mr.  Stanton  was  selected  by  Mr. 
Manny's  direct  representative  to  perform  this  duty. 

"When  all  the  parties  and  counsel  met  at  Cincinnati,  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  first  definitely  informed  by  Mr.  Watson  of  his 
determination  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  to  close  the  case  for  de- 
fendants. Mr.  Lincoln  was  evidently  disappointed  at  Mr. 
Watson's  decision.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  written  out  his  argu- 
ment in  full.  He  was  anxious  to  meet  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson 
in  forensic  contest.  The  case  was  important  as  to  the  amount 
in  dispute,  and  of  widespread  interest  to  farmers.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's feelings  were  embittered,  moreover,  because  the  plain- 
tiff's counsel  subsequently,  in  open  court,  of  their  own  mo- 
tion, stated  that  they  perceived  that  there  were  three  counsel 
present  for  defendant,  and  that  plaintiff  had  only  two  coun- 
sel present;  but  they  were  willing  to  allow  all  three  of  de- 
fendant's counsel  to  speak,  provided  Mr.  Dickerson,  who 
had  charge  of  the  mechanical  part  of  McCormick's  case,  were 
permitted  to  make  two  arguments,  besides  Mr.  Johnson's 
argument.  Mr.  Watson,  who  had  charge  of  defendant's 
case,  declined  this  offer,  because  the  case  ultimately  de- 
pended upon  mechanical  questions;  and  he  thought  that  if 
Mr.  Dickerson  were  allowed  to  open  the  mechanical  part  of 
the  case,  and  then  make  a  subsequent  argument  on  the  me- 
chanics, the  temptation  would  be  great  to  make  an  insuf- 
ficient or  misleading  mechanical  opening  of  the  case  at  first, 
and,  after  Mr.  Harding  had  replied  thereto,  to  make  a  fuller 
or  different  mechanical  presentation,  which  could  not  be  re- 
plied to  by  Mr.  Harding.  It  was  conceded  that  neither  Mr. 
Lincoln  nor  Mr.  Stanton  was  prepared  to  handle  the  me* 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  263 

chanics  of  the  case  either  in  opening  or  reply.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  Mr.  Watson  decided  that  only  two  arguments 
would  be  made  for  Manny,  and  that  Mr.  Harding  would 
open  the  case  for  defendant  on  the  mechanical  part,  and  Mr. 
Stan  ton  would  close  on  the  general  propositions  of  law  ap- 
plicable to  the  case.  Mr.  Stanton  said  in  court  that  per- 
sonally he  had  no  desire  to  speak,  but  he  agreed  with  Mr. 
Watson  that  only  two  arguments  should  be  made  for  de- 
fendants whether  he  spoke  or  not.  Mr.  Lincoln,  knowing 
Mr.  Watson's  wishes,  insisted  that  Mr.  Stanton  should  make 
the  closing  argument,  and  that  he  would  not  himself  speak. 
Mr.  Stanton  accepted  the  position,  and  did  speak,  because  he 
knew  that  such  was  the  expressed  wish  and  direction  of  Mr. 
Watson,  who  controlled  the  conduct  of  defendant's  case. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  kindly  and  gracefully,  but  regretfully,  ac- 
cepted the  situation.  He  attended,  and  exhibited  much  in- 
terest in  the  case  as  it  proceeded.  He  sent  to  Mr.  Harding 
the  written  argument  which  he  had  prepared,  that  he  might 
have  the  benefit  of  it  before  he  made  his  opening  argument ; 
but  requested  Mr.  Harding  not  to  show  it  to  Mr.  Stanton. 
The  chagrin  of  Mr.  Lincoln  at  not  speaking  continued,  how- 
ever, and  he  felt  that  Mr.  Stanton  should  have  insisted  on 
his,  Mr.  Lincoln's,  speaking  also ;  while  Mr.  Stanton  merely 
carried  out  the  positive  direction  of  his  client  that  there 
should  be  only  two  arguments  for  defendant,  and  that  he, 
Mr.  Stanton,  should  close  the  case,  and  Mr.  Harding  should 
open  the  case.  Mr.  Lincoln  expressed  to  Mr.  Harding  satis- 
faction at  the  manner  in  which  the  mechanical  part  of  the 
case  had  been  presented  by  him,  and  after  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
been  elected  President,  he  showed  his  recollection  of  it  by 
tendering  Mr.  Harding,  of  his  own  motion,  a  high  position. 

"In  regard  to  the  personal  treatment  of  Mr.  Lincoln  while 
in  attendance  at  Cincinnati,  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  known  to  hardly  any  one  in  Cincinnati  at  that 
date,  and  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  probably  not  impressed  with 
the  appearance  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  is  true  there  was  no  per- 
sonal intimacy  formed  between  them  while  at  Cincinnati. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  disappointed  and  unhappy  while  in  Cin- 
cinnati, and  undoubtedly  did  not  receive  the  attention  which 
he  should  have  received.  Mr.  Lincoln  felt  all  this,  and  par- 


264  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

ticularly,  but  unjustly,  reflected  upon  Mr.  Stanton  as  the 
main  cause.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Stanton,  like  many  others  in  the  country,  sincerely 
doubted  whether  Mr.  Lincoln  was  equal  to  the  tremendous 
responsibility  which  he  was  to  be  called  upon  to  assume  as 
President.  This  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  in  view  of  events 
subsequent  to  the  case  at  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Stanton  never 
called  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  after  he  came  to  Washington  as 
President.  Mr.  Lincoln  in  alluding  to  Mr.  Stanton  (both 
before  and  after  his  election  as  President)  did  not  attempt 
to  conceal  his  unkind  feeling  towards  him,  which  had  its 
origin  at  Cincinnati.  This  feeling  did  not  undergo  a  change 
until  after  he  met  Mr.  Stanton  as  Secretary  of  War. 

"The  occurrences  narrated  show  how  one  great  man  may 
underrate  his  fellow  man.  Mr.  Stanton  saw  at  Cincinnati 
in  Mr.  Lincoln  only  his  gaunt,  rugged  features,  his  awkward 
dress  and  carriage,  and  heard  only  his  rural  jokes;  but  Stan- 
ton  lived  to  perceive  in  those  rugged  lineaments  only  expres- 
sions of  nobility  and  loveliness  of  character,  and  to  hear  from 
his  lips  only  wisdom,  prudence,  and  courage,  couched  in  lan- 
guage unsurpassed  in  literature.  But  above  all  they  show 
the  nobility  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character  in  forgetting  all  un- 
kind personal  feeling  engendered  at  Cincinnati  towards  Mr. 
Stanton,  and  subsequently  appointing  him  his  Secretary  of 
War. 

"  The  above  was  narrated  by  Mr.  Harding  for  the  main 
purpose  of  correcting  the  popular  impression  that  Mr.  Stan- 
ton,  of  his  own  motion,  rode  over  and  displaced  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  the  case  at  Cincinnati ;  for  the  truth  is  that  Mr.  Stanton, 
in  the  course  he  pursued,  was  directed  by  his  clients'  repre- 
sentative, Mr.  Watson,  who  believed  that  he  was  serving 
the  best  interests  of  his  clients." 

Lincoln  was  first  suggested  to  Mr.  Manny  as  counsel  in 
this  case  by  a  younger  member  of  the  firm,  Mr.  Ralph  Emer- 
son, of  Rockford,  Illinois.  Mr.  Emerson,  as  a  student  of 
law,  had  been  thrown  much  into  company  with  Mr.  Lincoln, 
and  had  learned  to  respect  his  judgment  and  ability.  Indeed, 
it  was  Lincoln  who  was  instrumental  in  deciding  him  to 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  265 

abandon  the  law.  The  young  man  had  seen  much  in  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession  which  seemed  to  him  un- 
just, and  he  had  begun  to  feel  that  the  law  was  incompati- 
ble with  his  ideals.  One  evening,  after  a  particularly  trying 
day  in  court,  he  walked  out  with  Lincoln.  Suddenly  turn- 
ing to  his  companion,  he  said :  "Mr.  Lincoln,  I  want  to  ask 
you  a  question.  Is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  practice  law  and 
always  do  by  others  as  he  would  be  done  by?"  Lincoln's 
head  dropped  on  his  breast,  and  he  walked  in  silence  for  a 
long  way;  then  he  heaved  a  heavy  sigh.  When  he  finally 
spoke,  it  was  of  a  foreign  matter.  "I  had  my  answer,"  said 
Mr.  Emerson,  "and  that  walk  turned  the  course  of  my  life." 
During  the  trial  at  Cincinnati,  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Emerson 
were  thrown  much  together,  and  Mr.  Emerson's  recollec- 
tions are  particularly  interesting. 

"  As  I  was  the  sole  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the 
case,  when  it  was  decided  that  he  should  not  take  part  in  the 
argument,  he  invited  me  to  his  room  to  express  his  bitter  dis- 
appointment ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  I  persuaded  him 
to  remain  as  counsel  during  the  hearing.  We  generally 
spent  the  afternoons  together.  The  hearing  had  hardly  pro- 
gressed two  days  before  Mr.  Lincoln  expressed  to  me  his 
satisfaction  that  he  was  not  to  take  part  in  the  argument. 
So  many  and  so  deep  were  the  questions  involved  that  he 
realized  he  had  not  given  the  subject  sufficient  study  to  have 
done  himself  justice. 

"The  court- room,  which  during  the  first  day -or  two  was 
well  filled,  greatly  thinned  out  as  the  argument  proceeded 
day  after  day.  But  as  the  crowd  diminished,  Mr.  Lincoln's 
interest  in  the  case  increased.  He  appeared  entirely  to  forget 
himself,  and  at  times,  rising  from  his  chair,  walked  back  and 
forth  in  the  open  space  of  the  court-room,  as  though  he  were 
in  his  own  office,  pausing  to  listen  intently  as  one  point  after 
another  was  clearly  made  out  in  our  favor.  He  manifested 
such  delight  in  countenance  and  unconscious  action  that  its 
effect  on  the  judges,  one  of  whom  at  least  already  highly  re- 
spected him,  was  evidently  stronger  than  any  set  speech  of 


266  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

his  could  possibly  have  been.  The  impression  produced  on 
the  judges  was  evidently  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  justice  of  our  side,  and  anxious  that  we 
should  prevail,  not  merely  on  account  of  his  interest  in  his 
clients,  but  because  he  thought  our  case  was  just  and  should 
triumph. 

"The  final  summing  up  on  our  side  was  by  Mr.  Stanton; 
and  though  he  took  but  about  three  hours  in  its  delivery, 
he  had  devoted  as  many,  if  not  more,  weeks  to  its  prepara- 
tion. It  was  very  able,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  throughout  the 
whole  of  it  a  rapt  listener.  Mr.  Stanton  closed  his  speech  in 
a  flight  of  impassioned  eloquence.  Then  the  court  adjourned 
for  the  day,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  invited  me  to  take  a  long  walk 
with  him.  For  block  after  block  he  walked  rapidly  forward, 
not  saying  a  word,  evidently  deeply  dejected. 

"At  last  he  turned  suddenly  to  me,  exclaiming,  'Emerson, 
I  am  going  home/  A  pause.  'I  am  going  home  to  study 
law/ 

"  'Why/  I  exclaimed,  'Mr.  Lincoln,  you  stand  at  the  head 
of  the  bar  in  Illinois  now !  What  are  you  talking  about  ?' 

"  'Ah,  yes/  he  said,  'I  do  occupy  a  good  position  there, 
and  I  think  that  I  can  get  along  with  the  way  things  are 
done  there  now.  But  these  college-trained  men,  who  have 
devoted  their  whole  lives  to  study,  are  coming  West,  don't 
you  see  ?  And  they  study  their  cases  as  we  never  do.  They 
have  got  as  far  as  Cincinnati  now.  They  will  soon  be  in 
Illinois.'  Another  long  pause;  then  stopping  and  turning 
toward  me,  his  countenance  suddenly  assuming  that  look  of 
strong  determination  which  those  who  knew  him  best  some- 
times saw  upon  his  face,  he  exclaimed,  'I  am  going  home  to 
study  law !  I  am  as  good  as  any  of  them,  and  when  they  get 
out  to  Illinois  I  will  be  ready  for  them/  ' 

The  fee  which  Lincoln  received  in  the  McCormick  case,  in- 
cluding the  retainer,  which  was  five  hundred  dollars — the 
largest  retainer  ever  received  by  Lincoln — amounted  to 
nearly  two  thousand  dollars.  Except  the  sum  paid  him  by 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  it  was  probably  the  largest  fee 
he  ever  received.  The  two  sums  came  to  him  about  the  same 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  267 

time,  and  undoubtedly  helped  to  tide  over  the  rather  un- 
fruitful period,  from  a  financial  standpoint  which  followed 
• — the  period  of  his  contest  with  Douglas  for  the  Senate. 
Lincoln  never  made  money.  From  1850  to  1860  his  income 
averaged  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  dollars  a 
year.  In  the  forties  it  was  considerably  less.  The  fee-book 
of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  for  1847  shows  total  earnings  of 
only  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  The  largest  fee  entered  was 
one  of  one  hundred  dollars.  There  are  several  of  fifty  dol- 
lars, a  number  of  twenty,  more  of  ten,  still  more  of  five,  and 
a  few  of  three  dollars. 

But  Lincoln's  fees  were  as  a  rule  smaller  than  his  clients 
expected  or  his  fellow  lawyers  approved  of.  Mr.  Abraham 
Brokaw  of  Bloomington,  Illinois,  tells  the  following  story 
illustrating  Lincoln's  idea  of  a  proper  fee.  One  of  Mr.  Bro- 
kaw's  neighbors  had  borrowed  about  $500.00  from  him  and 
given  his  note.  When  it  became  due  the  man  refused  to  pay. 
Action  was  brought,  and  the  sheriff  levied  on  the  property 
of  the  debtor  and  finally  collected  the  entire  debt;  but  at 
about  that  time  the  sheriff  was  in  need  of  funds  and  used 
the  money  collected.  When  Brokaw  demanded  it  from  him 
he  was  unable  to  pay  it  and  was  found  to  be  insolvent. 
Thereupon  Brokaw  employed  Stephen  A.  Douglas  to  sue  the 
sureties  on  the  official  bond  of  the  sheriff.  Douglas  brought 
the  suit  and  soon  collected  the  claim.  But  Douglas  was  at 
that  time  in  the  midst  of  a  campaign  for  Congress  and  the 
funds  were  used  by  him  with  the  expectation  of  being  able 
to  pay  Brokaw  later.  However,  he  neglected  the  matter 
and  went  to  Washington  without  making  any  settlement. 
Brokaw,  although  a  life-long  and  ardent  Democrat  and  a 
great  admirer  of  Douglas,  was  a  thrifty  German  and 
did  not  propose  to  lose  sight  of  his  money.  After  fruit- 
lessly demanding  the  money  from  Douglas,  Brokaw  went 
to  David  Davis,  then  in  general  practice  at  Blooming:- 


268  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ton,  told  him  the  circumstances  and  asked  him  to  under* 
take  the  collection  of  the  money  from  Douglas.  Davis  pro- 
tested that  he  could  not  do  it,  that  Douglas  was  a  personal 
friend  and  a  brother  lawyer  and  Democrat  and  it  would  be 
very  disagreeable  for  him  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
matter.  He  finally  said  to  Brokaw,  "You  wait  until  the  next 
term  of  court  and  Lincoln  will  be  here.  He  would  like  noth- 
ing better  than  to  have  this  claim  for  collection.  I  will  intro- 
duce you  to  him  and  I  have  no  doubt  he  will  undertake  it." 
Shortly  after,  Brokaw  was  presented  to  Lincoln,  stated  his 
case  and  engaged  his  services.  Lincoln  promptly  wrote 
Douglas,  still  at  Washington,  that  he  had  the  claim  for  col- 
lection and  that  he  must  insist  upon  prompt  payment.  Doug- 
las, very  indignant,  wrote  directly  to  Brokaw  that  he  thought 
the  placing  of  the  claim  in  Lincoln's  hands  a  gross  outrage, 
that  he  and  Brokaw  were  old  friends  and  Democrats  and 
that  Brokaw  ought  not  to  place  any  such  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  such  an  Abolitionist  opponent  as  Lincoln  and  if  he 
could  not  wait  until  Douglas  returned  he  should  at  least  have 
placed  the  claim  for  collection  in  the  hands  of  a  Democrat. 
Brokaw's  thrift  again  controlled  and  he  sent  Douglas'  letter 
to  Lincoln.  Thereupon  Lincoln  placed  the  claim  in  the  hands 
of  "Long"  John  Wentworth,  then  a  Democratic  member  of 
Congress  from  Chicago,  Wentworth  called  upon  Douglas 
and  insisted  upon  payment,  which  shortly  after  was  made, 
and  Brokaw  at  last  received  his  money.  "And  what  do  you 
suppose  Lincoln  charged  me?"  Brokaw  says  in  telling  the 
story.  After  hearing  a  few  guesses  he  answers,  "He  charged 
me  exactly  $3.50  for  collecting  nearly  $600.00." 

Such  charges  were  felt  by  the  lawyers  of  the  Eighth  Cir- 
cuit, with  some  reason,  to  be  purely  Quixotic.  They  pro- 
tested and  argued,  but  Lincoln  went  on  serenely  charging 
what  he  thought  his  services  worth.  Ward  Lamon  who  was 
one  of  Lincoln's  numerous  circuit  partners  says  that  he  and 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  269 

Lincoln  frequently  fell  out  on  the  matter  of  fees.  On  one  oc- 
casion Lamon  was  particularly  incensed.  He  had  charged 
and  received  a  good  sized  fee  for  a  case  which  the  two  had 
tried  together  and  won.  When  Lamon  offered  Lincoln  his 
share  he  refused  it.  The  fee  was  too  large,  he  said,  part  of  it 
must  be  refunded  and  he  would  not  accept  a  cent  until  part 
of  it  had  been  refunded.  Judge  Davis  heard  of  this  transac- 
tion. He  was  himself  a  shrewd  money-maker,  never  hesi- 
tating to  take  all  he  could  legally  get  and  he  felt  strong  dis- 
gust at  this  disinterested  attitude  about  money.  Calling 
Lincoln  to  him  the  judge  scolded  roundly.  "You  are  pau- 
perizing this  court,  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  are  ruining  your  fel- 
lows. Unless  you  quit  this  ridiculous  policy,  we  shall  all 
have  to  go  to  farming."  But  not  even  the  ire  of  the  bench 
moved  Lincoln. 

If  a  fee  was  not  paid,  Lincoln  did  not  believe  in  suing  for 
it.  Mr.  Herndon  says  that  he  would  consent  to  be  swindled 
before  he  would  contest  a  fee.  The  case  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral railroad,  however,  was  an  exception  to  this  rule.  He  was 
careless  in  accounts,  never  entering  anything  on  the  book. 
When  a  fee  was  paid  to  him,  he  simply  divided  the  money 
into  two  parts,  one  of  which  he  put  into  his  pocket,  and  the 
other  into  an  envelope  which  he  labelled  "Herndon's  half." 
Lincoln's  whole  theory  of  the  conduct  of  a  lawyer  in  regard 
to  money  is  summed  up  in  the  "notes"  for  a  law  lecture 
which  he  left  among  his  papers : 

"  The  matter  of  fees  is  important,  far  beyond  the  mere 
question  of  bread  and  butter  involved.  Properly  attended  to, 
fuller  justice  is  done  to  both  lawyer  and  client.  An  ex- 
orbitant fee  should  never  be  claimed.  As  a  general  rule  never 
take  your  whole  fee  in  advance,  nor  any  more  than  a  small 
retainer.  When  fully  paid  beforehand,  you  are  more  than  a 
common  mortal  if  you  can  feel  the  same  interest  in  the  case, 
as  if  something  was  still  in  prospect  for  you,  as  well  as  for 
your  client.  And  when  you  lack  interest  in  the  case  the 


270  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

job  will  very  likely  lack  skill  and  diligence  in  the  perform- 
ance. Settle  the  amount  of  fee  and  take  a  note  in  advance. 
Then  you  will  feel  that  you  are  working  for  something,  and 
you  are  sure  to  do  your  work  faithfully  and  well.  Never  sell 
a  fee  note — at  least  not  before  the  consideration  service  is 
performed.  It  leads  to  negligence  and  dishonesty — negli- 
gence by  losing  interest  in  the  case,  and  dishonesty  in  re- 
fusing to  refund  when  you  have  allowed  the  consideration 
to  fail." 

If  a  client  was  poor,  and  Lincoln's  sympathies  were 
aroused,  he  not  infrequently  refused  pay.  There  are  a  few 
well  authenticated  cases  of  his  offering  his  services  to  those 
whom  he  believed  he  could  help,  stipulating  when  he  did  it 
that  he  would  make  no  charge.  The  best  known  example  of 
this  is  the  Armstrong  murder  case. 

William,  or  "Duff"  Armstrong,  as  he  was  generally 
called,  was  the  son  of  Lincoln's  New  Salem  friends,  Jack 
and  Hannah  Armstrong.  In  August,  1857,  Duff  and  a  num- 
ber of  his  mates  had  joined  a  crowd  of  ruffians  who  had 
gathered  on  the  outskirts  of  a  camp-meeting  held  near  Ha- 
vana, in  Macon  county.  He  had  drunk  heavily  for  some 
days,  and,  finally,  in  a  broil  on  the  night  of  August  29,  had 
beaten  a  comrade,  one  Metzker,  who  had  provoked  him  to  a 
fight.  That  same  night  Metzker  was  hit  with  an  ox-yoke 
by  another  drunken  reveller,  Norris  by  name.  Three  days 
later  he  died.  Both  Armstrong  and  Norris  were  arrested. 
Marks  of  two  blows  were  on  the  victim,  either  of  which 
might  have  killed  him.  That  Norris  had  dealt  one  was 
proved.  Did  Armstrong  deal  the  other?  He  claimed  he 
had  used  nothing  but  his  fists  in  the  broil ;  but  both  the  marks 
on  Metzker  were  such  as  must  have  been  made  by  some  in- 
strument. The  theory  was  developed  that  one  blow  was 
from  a  slung-shot  used  by  Armstrong,  and  that  he  and  Nor- 
ris had  acted  in  concert,  deliberately  planning  to  murder 
Metzker  Outraged  by  the  cruelty  of  the  deed,  the  wholf 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  271 

countryside  demanded  the  punishment  of  the  prisoners.  Just 
at  the  time  that  Armstrong  was  thrown  into  prison  his  father 
died,  his  last  charge  to  his  wife  Hannah  being,  "Sell  every- 
thing you  have  and  clear  Duff."  1  rue  to  her  trust,  Hannah 
engaged  two  lawyers  of  Havana,  both  of  whom  are  still  liv- 
ing, to  defend  her  boy.  Anxious  lest  the  violence  of  public 
feeling  should  injure  Duff's  chances,  the  lawyers  secured  a 
change  of  venue  to  Cass  county,  their  client  remaining  in 
prison  until  spring.  Norris,  in  the  meantime,  was  convicted, 
and  sentenced  to  eight  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

When  the  lawyers  and  witnesses  assembled  in  Beards- 
town,  May,  1858,  for  Armstrong's  trial,  it  happened  that 
Lincoln  was  attending  court  in  the  town.  At  that  moment 
he  was,  after  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  most  conspicuous 
man  in  Illinois.  His  future  course  in  politics  was  a  source  of 
interest  in  the  East  as  well  as  the  West.  The  coming  con- 
test with  Douglas  for  the  senatorship — for  it  was  already 
probable  that  he  would  be  the  candidate  in  the  convention 
which  was  only  a  month  away — was  causing  him  intense 
anxiety.  Yet  occupied  as  he  was  with  his  profession,  and 
harassed  by  the  critical  political  situation,  he  did  not  hesitate 
an  instant  when  Hannah  Armstrong  came  to  him  for  advice. 
Going  to  her  lawyers,  he  said  he  should  like  to  assist  them. 
They,  of  course,  were  glad  of  his  aid,  and  he  at  once  took  the 
case  in  hand.  His  first  care  was  the  selection  of  a  jury.  Not 
knowing  the  neighborhood  well,  he  could  not  discriminate 
closely  as  to  individuals ;  but  he  took  pains,  as  far  as  he  could 
control  the  choice,  to  have  only  young  men  chosen,  believing 
that  they  would  be  more  favorable  to  the  prisoner.  A  sur- 
viving witness  in  the  case  estimates  that  the  average  age  of 
the  jury  was  not  over  twenty-three  years. 

The  jury  empanelled,  the  examination  of  witnesses  seems 
to  have  been  conducted,  on  behalf  of  the  defence  chiefly  by 
Lincoln.  Many  of  the  witnesses  bore  familiar  names.  Some 


272  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

were  sons  of  "Clary's  Grove  Boys/'  and  Lincoln  had  known 
their  fathers.  "The  witnesses  were  kept  out  of  the  court- 
room until  called  to  testify,"  says  William  A.  Douglas.  "I 
happened  to  be  the  first  witness  called,  and  so  heard  the 
whole  trial.  When  William  Killian  was  called  to  the  stand, 
Lincoln  asked  him  his  name. 

"  'William  Killian/  was  the  reply. 

"  'Bill  Killian/  Lincoln  repeated  in  a  familiar  way;  'tell 
me,  are  you  a  son  of  old  Jake  Killian  V 

"  'Yes,  sir/  answered  the  witness. 

"  'Well/  said  Lincoln,  somewhat  aside,  'you  are  a  smart 
boy  if  you  take  after  your  dad/  ' 

As  the  trial  developed  it  became  evident  that  there  could 
have  been  no  collusion  between  Armstrong  and  Norris,  but 
there  was  strong  evidence  that  Armstrong  had  used  a  slung- 
shot.  The  most  damaging  evidence  was  that  of  one  Allen, 
who  swore  that  he  had  seen  Armstrong  strike  Metzker  about 
ten  or  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  When  asked  how  he 
could  see,  he  answered  that  the  moon  shone  brightly.  Under 
Lincoln's  questioning  he  repeated  the  statement  until  it  was 
impossible  that  the  jury  should  forget  it.  With  Allen's  testi- 
mony unimpeached,  conviction  seemed  certain. 

Lincoln's  address  to  the  jury  was  full  of  genuine  pathos. 
It  was  not  as  a  hired  attorney  that  he  was  there,  he  said,  but 
to  discharge  a  debt  of  friendship.  "Uncle  Abe,"  says  Duff 
Armstrong  himself,  "did  his  best  talking  when  he  told  the 
jury  what  true  friends  my  father  and  mother  had  been  to 
him  in  the  early  days.  .  .  .  He  told  how  he  used  to  go 
out  to  'Jack'  Armstrong's  and  stay  for  days;  how  kind 
mother  was  to  him ;  and  how,  many  a  time,  he  had  rocked  me 
to  sleep  in  the  old  cradle." 

But  Lincoln  was  not  relying  on  sympathy  alone  to  win  his 
case.  In  closing  he  reviewed  the  evidence,  showing  that  all 
depended  on  Allen's  testimony,  and  this  he  said  he  could 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  273 

prove  to  be  false.  Allen  never  saw  Armstrong  strike  Metz- 
ker  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  for  at  the  hour  when  he  said 
he  saw  the  fight,  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  the  moon 
was  not  in  the  heavens.  Then  producing  an  almanac,  he 
passed  it  to  the  judge  and  jury.  The  moon,  which  was  on 
that  night  only  in  its  first  quarter,  had  set  before  midnight. 
This  unexpected  overthrow  of  the  testimony  by  which  Lin- 
coln had  taken  care  that  the  jury  should  be  most  deeply  im- 
pressed, threw  them  into  confusion.  There  was  a  complete 
change  of  feeling.  Lincoln  saw  it ;  and  as  he  finished  his  ad- 
dress, and  the  jury  left  the  room,  turning  to  the  boy's 
mother,  he  said,  "Aunt  Hannah,  your  son  will  be  free  before 
sundown.'* 

Lincoln  had  not  misread  his  jury.  Duff  Armstrong  was 
discharged  as  not  guilty. 

There  has  long  been  a  story  current  that  the  dramatic  in- 
troduction of  the  almanac,  by  which  certainly  the  audience 
and  jury  were  won,  was  a  pure  piece  of  trickery  on  Lincoln's 
part;  that  the  almanac  was  not  one  of  1857,  ^ut  °f  I^53»  m 
which  the  figure  three  had  been  changed  throughout  to 
seven.  The  best  reply  to  this  charge  of  forgery  is  the  very 
evident  one  that  it  was  utterly  unnecessary.  The  almanac 
for  August,  1857,  shows  that  the  moon  was  exactly  in  the 
position  where  it  served  Lincoln's  client's  interests  best.  He 
did  not  need  to  forge  an  almanac,  the  one  of  the  period  being 
all  that  he  could  want. 

Another  murder  case  in  which  Lincoln  defended  the  ac- 
cused occurred  in  August,  1859.  The  victim  was  a  student 
in  his  own  law  office,  Greek  Cr a f ton.  The  murderer  Peachy 
Harrison,  was  the  grandson  of  Lincoln's  old  political  antago- 
nist, Peter  Cartwright.  Both  young  men  were  connected 
with  the  best  families  of  the  county ;  the  brother  of  one  was 
married  to  the  sister  of  the  other;  they  had  been  life-long 
friends.  In  an  altercation  upon  some  political  question  hot 


274  ^!FE  OF  LINCOLN 

words  were  exchanged,  and  Harrison,  beside  himselt, 
stabbed  Crafton,  who  three  days  later  died  from  the  wound. 
The  best  known  lawyers  of  the  State  were  engaged  for  the 
case.  Senator  John  M.  Palmer  and  General  A.  McClernand 
were  on  the  side  of  the  prosecution.  Among  those  who  rep- 
resented the  defendant  were  Lincoln,  Herndon,  Logan,  and 
Senator  Shelby  M.  Cullom.  The  tragic  pathos  of  a  case 
which  involved,  as  this  did,  the  deepest  affections  of  almost 
an  entire  community,  reached  its  climax  in  the  appearance 
in  court  of  the  venerable  Peter  Cartwright.  No  face  in  Illi- 
nois was  better  known  than  his,  no  life  had  been  spent  in  a 
more  relentless  war  on  evil.  Eccentric  and  aggressive  as 
he  was,  he  was  honored  far  and  wide ;  and  when  he  arose  in 
the  witness  stand,  his  white  hair  crowned  with  this  cruel  sor- 
row, the  most  indifferent  spectator  felt  that  his  examination 
would  be  unbearable.  It  fell  to  Lincoln  to  question  Cart- 
wright.  With  the  rarest  gentleness  he  began  to  put  his  ques- 
tions. 

"How  long  have  you  known  the  prisoner  ?" 

Cartwright's  head  dropped  on  his  breast  for  a  moment; 
then  straightening  himself,  he  passed  his  hand  across  his 
eyes  and  answered  in  a  deep,  quavering  voice : 

"I  have  known  him  since  a  babe,  he  laughed  and  cried  on 
my  knee." 

The  examination  ended  by  Lincoln  drawing  from  the  wit- 
ness the  story  of  how  Crafton  had  said  to  him,  just  before 
his  death :  "I  am  dying ;  I  will  soon  part  with  all  I  love  on 
earth,  and  I  want  you  to  say  to  my  slayer  that  I  forgive  him. 
I  want  to  leave  this  earth  with  a  forgiveness  of  all  who  have 
in  any  way  injured  me." 

This  examination  made  a  profound  impression  on  the 
jury.  Lincoln  closed  his  argument  by  picturing  the  scene 
anew,  appealing  to  the  jury  to  practice  the  same  forgiving 
spirit  that  the  murdered  man  had  shown  on  his  death-bed. 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  275 

It  was  undoubtedly  to  his  handling  of  the  grandfather's  evi- 
dence that  Harrison's  acquittal  was  due. 

A  class  of  legal  work  which  Lincoln  enjoyed  particularly 
was  that  in  which  mathematical  or  mechanical  problems  were 
involved.  He  never  lost  interest  in  his  youthful  pot-boiling 
profession  of  surveying,  and  would  go  out  himself  to  make 
sure  of  boundaries  if  a  client's  case  required  particular  in- 
vestigation. Indeed,  he  was  generally  recognized  by  his  fel- 
low lawyers  as  an  authority  in  surveying,  and  as  late  as  1859 
his  opinion  on  a  disputed  question  was  sought  by  a  conven- 
tion of  surveyors  who  had  met  in  Springfield.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  cases  involving  mechanical  problems  which 
Lincoln  ever  argued  was  that  of  the  Rock  Island  Bridge.  It 
was  not,  however,  the  calculations  he  used  which  made  it 
striking.  The  case  was  a  dramatic  episode  in  the  war  long 
waged  by  the  Mississippi  against  the  plains  beyond.  For 
decades  the  river  had  been  the  willing  burden-bearer  of  the 
West.  Now,  however,  the  railroad  had  come.  The  Rock 
Island  road  had  even  dared  to  bridge  the  stream  to  carry 
away  the  traffic  which  the  river  claimed. 

In  May,  1856,  a  steamboat  struck  one  of  the  piers  of  the 
bridge,  and  was  wrecked  and  burned.  One  pier  of  the  bridge 
was  also  destroyed.  The  boat  owners  sued  the  railroad  com- 
pany. The  suit  was  the  beginning  of  the  long  and  violent 
struggle  for  commercial  supremacy  between  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago.  In  Chicago  it  was  commonly  believed  that  the  St. 
Louis  Chamber  of  Commerce  had  bribed  the  captain  of  the 
boat  to  run  upon  the  pier ;  and  it  was  said  that  later,  when  the 
bridge  itself  was  burned,  the  steamers  gathered  near  and 
whistled  for  joy.  The  case  was  felt  to  involve  the  future 
course  of  western  commerce ;  and  when  it  was  called  in  Sep- 
tember, 1857,  at  Chicago,  people  crowded  there  from  all  over 
the  West.  Norman  B.  Judd,  afterwards  so  prominent  in  the 
politics  of  the  State,  was  the  attornev  of  the  road,  and  he  en- 


2  76 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


gaged  Lincoln,  among  others,  as  counsel.  Lincoln  made  an 
address  to  the  jury  which  those  who  remember  it  declare  to 
have  been  one  of  his  strongest  legal  arguments. 

"  The  two  points  relied  upon  by  the  opponents  of  the 
bridge,"  says  Judge  Blodgett  of  Chicago,  "  were : 

*  'First.  That  the  river  was  the  great  waterway  for  the 
commerce  of  the  valley,  and  could  not  legally  be  obstructed 
by  a  bridge. 

"Second.  That  this  particular  bridge  was  so  located  with 
reference  to  the  channel  of  the  river  at  that  point  as  to  make 
it  a  peril  to  all  water  craft  navigating  the  river  and  an  un- 
necessary obstruction  to  navigation. 

"The  first  proposition  had  not  at  that  time  been  directly 
passed  upon  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  al- 
though the  Wheeling  Bridge  case  involved  the  question ;  but 
the  court  had  evaded  a  decision  upon  it,  by  holding  that  the 
Wheeling  Bridge  was  so  low  as  to  be  an  unnecessary  obstruc- 
tion to  the  use  of  the  river  by  steamboats.  The  discussion  of 
the  first  proposition  on  the  part  of  the  bridge  company  de- 
volved mainly  upon  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"I  listened  with  much  interest  to  his  argument  on  this 
point,  and  while  I  was  not  impressed  by  it  as  a  specially  elo- 
quent effort  (as  the  word  eloquent  is  generally  understood), 
I  have  always  considered  it  as  one  of  the  ablest  efforts  I  ever 
heard  from  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  bar.  His  illustrations  were 
apt  and  forcible,  his  statements  clear  and  logical,  and  his  rea- 
sons in  favor  of  the  policy  (and  necessarily  the  right)  to 
bridge  the  river,  and  thereby  encourage  the  settlement  and 
building  up  of  the  vast  area  of  fertile  country  to  the  west  of 
it,  were  broad  and  statesmanlike. 

"The  pith  of  his  argument  was  in  his  statement  that  one 
man  had  as  good  a  right  to  cross  a  river  as  another  had  to 
sail  up  or  down  it;  that  these  were  equal  and  mutual  rights 
which  must  be  exercised  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  each 
other,  like  the  right  to  cross  a  street  or  highway  and  the  right 
to  pass  along  it.  From  this  undeniable  right  to  cross  the 
river  he  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  means  for  crossing. 
Must  it  always  be  by  canoe  or  ferryboat ?  Must  the  products 
of  all  the  boundless  fertile  country  lying  west  of  the  river  for 


IMPORTANT  LAW  CASES  277 

all  time  be  compelled  to  stop  on  its  western  bank,  be  unloaded 
from  the  cars  and  loaded  upon  a  boat,  and  after  the  transit 
across  the  river,  be  reloaded  into  cars  on  the  other  side,  to 
continue  their  journey  east?  In  this  connection  he  drew  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  future  of  the  great  West  lying  beyond 
the  river,  and  argued  that  the  necessities  of  commerce  de- 
manded that  the  bridges  across  the  river  be  a  conceded  right, 
which  the  steamboat  interests  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to 
successfully  resist,  and  thereby  stay  the  progress  of  develop- 
ment and  civilization  in  the  region  to  the  west. 

"  While  I  cannot  recall  a  word  or  sentence  of  the  argu- 
ment, I  well  remember  its  effect  on  all  who  listened  to  it,  and 
the  decision  of  the  court  fully  sustained  the  right  to  bridge  so 
long  as  it  did  not  unnecessarily  obstruct  navigation." 

All  the  papers  in  regard  to  the  trial  are  supposed  to  have 
been  burned  in  the  Chicago  fire  of  1871,  but  the  speech, 
which  was  reported  by  Congressman  Hitt  of  Illinois,  at  that 
time  court  stenographer,  was  published  on  September  24, 
1857,  in  the  Chicago  "  Daily  Press,"  afterwards  united  with 
the  "  Tribune." 

According  to  this  report  the  first  part  of  the  speech  was 
devoted  to  the  points  Judge  Blodgett  outlines;  the  second 
part  was  given  to  a  careful  explanation  of  the  currents  of  the 
Mississippi  at  the  point  where  the  bridge  crossed.  Lincoln 
succeeded  in  showing  that  had  the  pilot  of  the  boat  been  as 
familiar  as  he  ought  to  have  been  with  the  river,  he  could 
easily  have  prevented  the  accident.  His  argument  was  full  of 
nice  mathematical  calculations  clearly  put,  and  was  marked 
by  perfect  candor.  Indeed,  the  honesty  with  which  he  ad- 
mitted the  points  made  by  the  opposite  counsel  caused  consid- 
erable alarm  to  some  of  his  associates.  Mrs.  Norman  B.  Judd 
(Mr.  Judd  was  the  attorney  of  the  road)  says  that  Mr.  Jo- 
seph B.  Knox,  who  was  also  engaged  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
the  defence,  dined  at  her  house  the  day  that  Lincoln  made  his 
speech.  "  He  sat  down  at  the  dinner  table  in  great  excite- 


278  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ment,"  writes  Mrs.  Judd,  "saying,  'Lincoln  has  lost  the  case 
for  us.  The  admissions  he  made  in  regard  to  the  currents  in 
the  Mississippi  at  Rock  Island  and  Moline  will  convince  the 
court  that  a  bridge  at  that  point  will  always  be  a  serious  and 
constant  detriment  to  navigation  on  the  river/  'Wait  until 
you  hear  the  conclusion  of  his  speech/  replied  Mr.  Judd; 
'you  will  find  his  admission  is  a  strong  point  instead  of  a 
weak  one,  and  on  it  he  will  found  a  strong  argument  that  will 
satisfy  you/  "  And  as  it  proved,  Mr.  Judd  was  right. 

The  few  cases  briefly  outlined  here  show  something  of  the 
range  of  Lincoln's  legal  work.  They  show  that  not  only  his 
friends  like  Hannah  Armstrong  believed  in  his  power  with  a 
jury,  but  that  great  corporations  like  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  were  willing  to  trust  their  affairs  in  his  hands ;  that 
he  was  not  only  a  "jury  lawyer,"  as  has  been  often  stated, 
but  trusted  when  it  came  to  questions  of  law  pure  and  sim- 
ple. If  this  study  of  his  cases  were  continued,  it  would  only 
be  to  accumulate  evidence  to  prove  that  Lincoln  was  consid- 
ered by  his  contemporaries  one  of  the  best  lawyers  of  Illinois. 

It  is  worth  notice,  too,  that  he  made  his  reputation  as  a 
lawyer  and  tried  his  greatest  cases  before  his  debate  with 
Douglas  gave  him  a  national  reputation.  It  was  in  1855  that 
the  Illinois  Central  engaged  him  first  as  counsel;  in  1855  that 
he  went  to  Cincinnati  on  the  McCormick  case;  in  1857  that 
jhe  tried  the  Rock  Island  Bridge  case.  Thus  his  place  was 
won  purely  on  his  legal  ability  unaided  by  political  prestige. 
His  success  came,  too,  in  middle  life.  Lincoln  was  forty 
years  old  in  1849,  when  he  abandoned  politics  definitely,  as 
he  thought,  for  the  law.  He  tried  his  greatest  cases  when  he 
was  from  forty-five  to  forty-eight. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LINCOLN   RE-ENTERS  POLITICS 

FROM  1849  to  1854  Abraham  Lincoln  gave  almost  his  en- 
tire time  to  his  profession.  Politics  received  from  him  only 
the  attention  which  any  public  spirited  citizen  without  per- 
sonal ambition  should  give.  He  kept  close  watch  upon  Fed- 
eral, State  and  local  affairs.  He  was  active  in  the  efforts 
made  in  Illinois  in  1851  to  secure  a  more  thorough  party 
organization.  In  1852  he  was  on  the  Scott  electoral  ticket 
and  did  some  canvassing.  But  this  was  all.  He  was  yearly 
becoming  more  absorbed  in  his  legal  work,  losing  more  and 
more  of  his  old  inclination  for  politics,  when  in  May, 
1854,  the  Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  aroused  him 
as  he  had  never  been  before  in  all  his  life.  The  Missouri 
Compromise  was  the  second  in  that  series  of  noble  provis- 
ions for  making  new  territory  free  territory,  which  liberty- 
loving  men  have  wrested  from  the  United  States  Congress, 
whenever  the  thirst  for  expansion  has  seized  this  country. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  "  Ordinance  of  1787,'!  prohibiting 
slavery  in  all  the  great  Northwest  Territory.  The  second 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  passed  in  1820,  was  the  result  of 
a  struggle  to  keep  the  Louisiana  Purchase  free.  It  pro- 
vided that  Missouri  might  come  in  as  a  slave  State  if  slavery 
was  never  allowed  north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude. 
The  next  great  expansion  of  the  United  States  after  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  resulted  from  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
and  of  the  territory  acquired  by  the  Mexican  War.  The 
North  was  determined  that  this  new  territory  should  be 

279 


28o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

free.  The  South  wanted  it  for  slaves.  The  struggle  be- 
tween them  threatened  the  Union  for  a  time,  but  it  was 
adjusted  by  the  compromise  of  1850,  in  which,  according 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  summing  up,  "  the  South  got  their  new 
fugitive-slave  law,  and  the  North  got  California  (by  far  the 
best  part  of  our  acquisition  from  Mexico)  as  a  free  State. 
The  South  got  a  provision  that  New  Mexico  and  Utah, 
when  admitted  as  States,  may  come  in  with  or  without 
slavery,  -as  they  may  then  choose;  and  the  North  got  the 
slave-trade  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The 
North  got  the  western  boundary  of  Texas  thrown  farther 
back  eastward  than  the  South  desired;  but,  in  turn,  they 
gave  Texas  ten  millions  of  dollars  with  which  to  pay  her  old 
debts." 

For  three  years  matters  were  quiet.  Then  Nebraska 
sought  territorial  organization.  Now  by  the  Missouri 
Compromise  slavery  was  forbidden  in  that  section  of  the 
Union,  but  in  spite  of  this  fact  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
then  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
introduced  a  bill  to  give  Nebraska  and  Kansas  the  de- 
sired government,  to  which  later  he  added  an  amend- 
ment repealing  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  permitting 
the  people  who  should  settle  in  the  new  territories  to  reject 
or  establish  slavery  as  they  should  see  fit.  It  was  the  passage 
of  this  bill  which  brought  Abraham  Lincoln  from  the  court 
room  to  the  stump.  His  friend  Richard  Yates  was  run- 
ning for  re-election  to  Congress.  Lincoln  began  to  speak 
for  him,  but  in  accepting  invitations  he  stipulated  that  it 
should  be  against  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  that  he  talk. 
His  earnestness  surprised  his  friends.  Lincoln  was  coming 
back  into  politics,  they  said,  and  when  Douglas,  the  author 
of  the  repeal,  was  announced  to  speak  in  Springfield  in  Oc- 
tober of  1854,  they  called  on  Lincoln  to  meet  him. 

Douglas  was  havincr  a  serious  struggle  to  reconcile  his 


RE- ENTERS  POLITICS  281 

Illinois  constituency.  All  the  free  sentiment  of  the  State 
had  been  bitterly  aroused  by  his  part  in  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  and  when  he  first  returned  to  Illinois 
it  looked  as  if  he  would  not  be  given  even  a  hearing.  Indeed, 
when  he  first  attempted  to  speak  in  Chicago,  September  i,  he 
was  hooted  from  the  platform.  With  every  day  in  the 
State,  however,  he  won  back  his  friends,  so  great  was  his 
power  over  men,  and  he  was  beginning  to  arouse  something 
of  his  old  enthusiasm  when  he  went  to  Springfield  to  speak 
at  the  annual  State  Fair.  There  was  a  great  crowd  present 
from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  Douglas  spoke  for  three 
hours.  When  he  closed  it  was  announced  that  Lincoln  would 
answer  him  the  next  day.  Lincoln's  friends  expected  him  to 
do  well  in  his  reply,  but  his  speech  was  a  surprise  even  to 
those  who  knew  him  best.  It  was  profound,  finished,  vigor- 
ous, eloquent.  When  had  he  mastered  the  history  of  the  sla- 
very question  so  completely?  they  asked  each  other.  "  The 
anti-Nebraska  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,"  said  the  Springfield 
"  Journal "  the  next  day,  "  was  the  profoundest,  in  our 
opinion  that  he  has  made  in  his  whole  life.  He  felt  upon 
his  soul  the  truths  burn  which  he  uttered,  and  all  present  felt 
that  he  was  true  to  his  own  soul.  His  feelings  once  or  twice 
swelled  within,  and  came  near  stifling  utterance.  He  quiv- 
ered with  emotion.  The  whole  house  was  as  still  as  death. 
He  attacked  the  Nebraska  bill  with  unusual  warmth  and 
energy;  and  all  felt  that  a  man  of  strength  was  its  enemy, 
and  that  he  intended  to  blast  it  if  he  could  by  strong  and 
manly  efforts.  He  was  most  successful,  and  the  house  ap- 
proved the  glorious  triumph  of  truth  by  loud  and  continued 
huzzas." 

The  vigor  and  earnestness  of  Lincoln's  speech  aroused  the 
crowd  to  such  enthusiasm  that  Senator  Douglas  felt  obliged 
to  reply  to  him  the  next  day.  These  speeches  of  October  3, 
4  and  5,  1854,  form  really  the  first  of  the  series  of  Lincoln- 


2g2  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Douglas  Debates.  They  proved  conclusively  to  the  anti- 
Nebraska  politicians  in  Illinois  that  Lincoln  was  to  be  their 
leader  in  the  fight  they  had  begun  against  the  extension  of 
slavery. 

Although  the  speech  of  October  4  was  not  preserved,  we 
know  from  Paul  Selby,  at  that  time  editor  of  an  indepen- 
dent paper  in  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  which  had  been  working 
hard  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  that 
Lincoln's  speech  at  Springfield  was  practically  the  same  as 
one  delivered  twelve  days  later  at  Peoria  in  reply  to  Douglas. 
Of  this  latter  a  full  report  was  preserved. 

In  his  reply  at  Peoria,  Lincoln  began  by  a  brief  but  suffi- 
cient resume  of  the  efforts  of  the  North  to  apply  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  to  all  new  territory  which  it  acquired, 
and  failing  in  that  to  provide  for  the  sake  of  peace  a  series 
of  compromises  reserving  as  much  territory  as  possible  to 
freedom.  He  showed  that  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  was  a 
direct  violation  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  these  solemn  com- 
promises. This  he  declared  was  "  wrong."  "  Wrong  in  its 
direct  effect,  letting  slavery  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and 
wrong  in  its  prospective  principle,  allowing  it  to  spread  to 
every  other  part  of  the  wide  world  where  men  can  be  found 
inclined  to  take  it.  This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I 
must  think,  covert  real  zeal,  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  can- 
not but  hate.  I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice 
of  slavery  itself.  I  hate  it  because  it  deprives  our  republican 
example  of  its  just  influence  in  the  world;  enables  the  en- 
emies of  free  institutions  with  plausibility  to  taunt  us  as 
hypocrites;  causes  the  real  friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our 
sincerity;  and  especially  because  it  forces  so  many  men 
among  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with  the  very  funda- 
mental principles  of  civil  liberty,  criticizing  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  insisting  that  there  is  no  right  principle 
of  action  but  self-interest." 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICb  283 

Disavowing  all  "  prejudice  against  the  Southern  people/' 
he  generously  declared : 

"  They  are  just  what  we  would  be  in  their  situation.  If 
slavery  did  not  exist  among  them,  they  would  not  introduce 
it.  If  it  did  now  exist  among  us,  we  should  not  instantly 
give  it  up.  .  .  I  surely  will  not  blame  them  for  not  doing 
what  I  should  not  know  how  to  do  myself.  If  all  earthly 
power  were  given  me,  I  should  not  know  what  to  do  as  to  the 
existing  institution.  My  first  impulse  would  be  to  free  all 
the  slaves,  and  send  them  to  Liberia,  to  their  own  native 
land.  But  a  moment's  reflection  would  convince  me  that 
whatever  of  high  hope  ....  there  may  be  in  this  in 
the  long  run,  its  sudden  execution  is  impossible.  If  they 
were  all  landed  there  in  a  day,  they  would  all  perish  in  the 
next  ten  days,  and  there  are  not  surplus  shipping  and  sur- 
plus money  enough  to  carry  them  there  in  many  times  ten 
days.  ...  I  think  I  would  not  hold  one  in  slavery  at 
any  rate,  yet  the  point  is  not  clear  enough  for  me  to  de- 
nounce people  upon It  does  seem  to  me 

that  systems  of  gradual  emancipation  might  be  adopted,  but 
for  their  tardiness  in  this  I  will  not  undertake  to  judge  our 
brethren  of  the  South.  .  .  .  The  law  which  forbids  the 
bringing  of  slaves  from  Africa,  and  that  which  has  so  long 
forbidden  the  taking  of  them  into  Nebraska,  can  hardly  be 
distinguished  on  any  moral  principle,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
former  could  find  quite  as  plausible  excuses  as  that  of  the 
latter." 

Taking  up  the  arguments  by  which  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  justified,  he  answered  them  one 
by  one  with  clearness  and  a  great  array  of  facts.  The  chief 
of  these  arguments  was  that  the  repeal  was  in  the  interest 
of  the  "  sacred  right  of  self-government "  that  the  people 
of  Nebraska  had  a  right  to  govern  themselves  as  they  chose, 
voting  for  or  against  slavery  as  they  pleased. 

"  The  doctrine  of  self-government  is  right,"  Lincoln  said, 
"  absolutely  and  eternally  right,  but  it  has  no  just  applica- 
tion as  here  attempted.  Or  perhaps  I  should  rather  say  that. 


284  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

whether  it  has  such  application  depends  upon  whether  a 
negro  is  not  or  is  a  man.  If  he  is  not  a  man,  in  that  case 
he  who  is  a  man  may  as  a  matter  of  self-government  do  just 
what  he  pleases  with  him.  But  if  the  negro  is  a  man,  is  it 
not  to  that  extent  a  total  destruction  of  self-government  to 
say  that  he  too  shall  not  govern  himself?  When  the  white 
man  governs  himself,  that  is  self-government;  but  when  he 
governs  "himself  and  also  governs  another  man,  that  is  more 
than  self-government — that  is  despotism.  If  the  negro  is 
a  man,  why  then  my  ancient  faith  teaches  me  that  '  all  men 
are  created  equal/  and  that  there  can  be  no  moral  right  in 
connection  with  one  man's  making  a  slave  of  another. 

"Judge  Douglas  frequently,  with  bitter  irony  and  sar- 
casm, paraphrases  our  argument  by  saying :  *  The  white 
people  of  Nebraska  are  good  enough  to  govern  themselves, 
but  they  are  not  good  enough  to  govern  a  few  miserable 
negroes ! ' 

"  Well !  I  doubt  not  that  the  people  of  Nebraska  are  and 
will  continue  to  be  as  good  as  the  average  of  people  else- 
where. I  do  not  say  the  contrary.  What  I  do  say  is  that 
no  man  is  good  enough  to  govern  another  man  without  that 
other's  consent.  I  say  this  is  the  leading  principle,  the  sheet- 
anchor  of  American  republicanism." 

This  Peoria  speech,  which  is  very  long,  is  particularly  in- 
teresting to  students  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  speeches,  because  in  it 
is  found  the  germ  of  many  of  the  arguments  which  he  elab- 
orated in  the  next  six  years  and  used  with  tremendous  effect. 

With  the  Peoria  speech  Douglas  had  had  enough  of  Lin- 
coln as  an  antagonist,  and  he  made  a  compact  with  him  that 
neither  should  speak  again  in  the  campaign.  It  was  char- 
acteristic of  Douglas  that  on  his  way  to  Chicago  he  should 
stop  and  deliver  a  speech  at  Princeton ! 

But  though  Lincoln  had  temporarily  withdrawn  from  the 
stump  he  was  by  no  means  abandoning  the  struggle.  The 
iniquity  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  grew  greater  to  him 
every  day.  He  meant  to  fight  it  to  the  end  and  he  wanted  to 
go  where  he  could  fight  it  directly.  He  became  a  candidate 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  285 

for  the  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  from  Sangamon  County 
and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  in  November.  A  little 
later  he  saw  an  opportunity  for  a  larger  position.  Al- 
though Illinois  was  strongly  Democratic,  the  revolt  against 
the  Nebraska  bill  had  driven  from  the  party  a  number  of 
men,  members  of  the  Legislature  who  had  signified  their 
determination  to  vote  only  for  an  Anti-Nebraska  Senator. 
This  gave  the  Whigs  a  chance,  and  several  candidates  of- 
fered themselves — among  them  Lincoln.  Resigning  from 
the  Legislature  (members  of  the  Legislature  could  not  be- 
come candidates  for  the  senatorship),  he  began  his  elec- 
tioneering in  the  frank  Western  style  of  those  days  by  re- 
questing his  friends  to  support  him. 

"  I  have  really  got  it  into  my  head  to  try  to  be  United 
States  Senator,"  -he  wrote  his  friend  Gillespie,  "  and,  if  I 
could  have  your  support,  my  chances  would  be  reasonably 
good.  But  I  know,  and  acknowledge,  that  you  have  as  just 
claims  to  the  place  as  I  have;  and  therefore  I  cannot  ask  you 
to  yield  to  me,  if  you  are  thinking  of  becoming  a  candidate 
yourself.  If,  however,  you  are  not,  then  I  should  like  to  be 
remembered  affectionately  by  you;  and  also  to  have  you 
make  a  mark  for  me  with  the  Anti-Nebraska  members,  down 
your  way." 

He  sent  a  large  number  of  similar  letters  to  friends,  and 
by  the  first  of  January,  when  the  Legislature  re-assembled, 
he  felt  his  chances  of  election  were  good.  "  I  have  more 
committals  than  any  other  man,"  he  wrote  his  friend  Wash- 
burne.  Nevertheless  he  failed  of  the  election.  Just  how  he 
explained  to  Washburne  early  in  February : 

"  I  began  with  44  votes,  Shields  (Democratic)  41,  and 
Trumbull  (Anti-Nebraska)  5, — yet  Trumbull  was  elected. 
In  fact,  47  different  members  voted  for  me, — getting  three 
new  ones  on  the  second  ballot,  and  losing  four  old  ones. 
How  came  my  47  to  yield  to  Trumbull's  5  ?  It  was  Gov- 


2£6  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

ernor  Matteson's  work.  He  has  been  secretly  a  candidate 
ever  since  (before,  even)  the  fall  election.  All  the  members 
round  about  the  canal  were  Anti-Nebraska,  but  were  never- 
theless nearly  all  Democrats  and  old  personal  friends  of  his. 
His  plan  was  to  privately  impress  them  with  the  belief  that 
he  was  as  good  Anti-Nebraska  as  any  one  else — at  least 
could  be  secured  to  be  so  by  instructions,  which  could  be 
easily  passed 

"  The  Nebraska  men,  of  course,  were  not  for  Matteson; 
but  when  they  found  they  could  elect  no  avowed  Nebraska 
man,  they  tardily  determined  to  let  him  get  whomever  of  our 
men  he  could,  by  whatever  means  he  could,  and  ask  him  no 

questions 

The  Nebraska  men  were  very  confident  of  the  election  of 
Matteson,  though  denying  that  he  was  a  candidate,  and  we 
very  much  believing  also  that  they  would  elect  him.  But 
they  wanted  first  to  make  a  show  of  good  faith  to  Shields 
by  voting  for  him  a  few  times,  and  our  secret  Matteson  men 
also  wanted  to  make  a  show  of  good  faith  by  voting  with  us 
a  few  times.  So  we  led  off.  On  the  seventh  ballot,  I  think, 
the  signal  was  given  to  the  Nebraska  -men  to  turn  to  Matte- 
son,  which  they  acted  on  to  a  man,  with  one  exception.  . 
Next  ballot  the  remaining  Nebraska  man  and  one  pretended 
Anti  went  over  to  him,  giving  him  46.  The  next  still  an- 
other, giving  him  47,  wanting  only  three  of  an  election.  In 
the  meantime  our  friends,  with  a  view  of  detaining  our  ex- 
pected bolters,  had  been  turning  from  me  to  Trumbull  till  he 
had  risen  to  35  and  I  had  been  reduced  to  15.  These  would 
never  desert  me  except  by  my  direction ;  but  I  became  satis- 
fied that  if  we  could  prevent  Matteson's  election  one  or 
two  ballots  more,  we  could  not  possibly  do  so  a  single  ballot 
after  my  friends  should  begin  to  return  to  me  from  Trum- 
bull. So  I  determined  to  strike  at  once,  and  accordingly  ad- 
vised my  remaining  friends  to  go  for  him,  which  they  did 
and  elected  him  on  the  tenth  ballot. 

"  Such  is  the  way  the  thing  was  done.    I  think  you  would 

have  done  the  same  under  the  circumstances 

I  could  have  headed  off  every  combination  and  been  elected, 
had  it  not  been  for  Matteson's  double  game — and  his  defeat 
now  gives  me  more  pleasure  than  my  own  gives  me  pain. 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  287 

On  the  whole,  it  is  perhaps  as  well  for  our  general  cause  that 
Trumbull  is  elected.  The  Nebraska  men  confess  that  they 
hate  it  worse  than  anything  that  could  have  happened.  It 
is  a  great  consolation  to  see  them  worse  whipped  than  I 


am." 


Not  only  had  Lincoln  made  the  leading  orator  of  the 
Nebraska  cause  cry  enough,  he  had  by  his  quick  wit  and  his 
devotion  to  the  cause  secured  an  Anti-Nebraska  Senator  for 
the  State. 

Although  for  the  time  being  campaigning  was  over,  Lin- 
coln by  no  means  dropped  the  subject.  The  struggle  between 
North  and  South  over  the  settlement  of  Kansas  grew  every 
day  more  bitter.  Violence  was  beginning,  and  it  was  evident 
that  if  the  people  of  the  new  territory  should  vote  to  make 
the  State  free  it  would  be  impossible  to  enforce  the  decision 
without  bloodshed.  Lincoln  watched  the  developments  with 
a  growing  determination  never  to  submit  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  He  would  advocate  its  restoration 
so  long  as  Kansas  remained  a  territory,  and  if  it  ever  sought 
to  enter  the  Union  as  a  slave  State  he  would  oppose  it.  He 
discussed  the  subject  incessantly  with  his  friends  as  he  travel- 
led the  circuit;  and  wrestled  with  it  day  and  night  in  soli- 
tude. A  new  conviction  was  gradually  growing  upon  him. 
He  had  long  held  that  slavery  was  wrong  but  that  it  could 
not  be  touched  in  the  State  where  it  was  recognized  by  the 
Constitution;  all  that  the  free  States  could  require,  in  his 
judgment,  was  that  no  new  territory  should  be  opened  to 
slavery.  He  held  that  all  compromises  adjusting  difficulties 
between  the  North  and  South  on  the  slavery  question  were  as 
sacred  as  the  Constitution.  Now  he  saw  the  most  important 
of  them  all  violated.  Was  it  possible  to  devise  a  compromise 
which  would  settle  forever  the  conflicting  interests?  He 
turned  over  the  question  continually.  Judge  T.  Lyle  Dickey 
of  Illinois  once  told  the  Hon.  William  Pitt  Kellogg  that 


288  LIFti  OF  LINCOLN 

when  the  excitement  over  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  first 
broke  out,  he  was  with  Lincoln  and  several  friends  at- 
tending court.  One  evening  several  persons,  including  him- 
self and  Lincoln,  were  discussing  the  slavery  question.  Judge 
Dickey  contended  that  slavery  was  an  institution,  which  the 
Constitution  recognized,  and  which  could  not  be  disturbed. 
Lincoln  argued  that  ultimately  slavery  must  become  extinct. 
"  After  a  while,"  said  Judge  Dickey,  "  we  went  upstairs  to 
bed.  There  were  two  beds  in  our  room,  and  I  remember  that 
Lincoln  sat  up  in  his  night  shirt  on  the  edge  of  the  bed 
arguing  the  point  with  me.  At  last,  we  went  to  sleep.  Early 
in  the  morning  I  woke  up  and  there  was  Lincoln  half  sitting 
up  in  bed.  '  Dickey/  he  said,  '  I  tell  you  this  nation 
cannot  exist  half  slave  and  half  free.  '  Oh,  Lincoln/  said 
I,  '  go  to  sleep/  " 

As  the  months  went  on  this  idea  took  deeper  root,  and 
in  August,  1855,  we  find  it  expressed  in  a  letter  to  George 
Robertson  of  Kentucky :  "  Our  political  problem  now  is, 
'  Can  we  as  a  nation  continue  together  permanently — for- 
ever— half  slave  and  half  free?  '  The  problem  is  too  mighty 
for  me — may  God,  in  his  mercy,  superintend  the  solution." 

Not  only  was  he  beginning  to  see  that  the  Union  could 
not  exist  "  divided  against  itself,"  he  was  beginning  to  see 
that  in  order  to  fight  effectively  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  and  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a 
slave  State,  he  migfot  be  obliged  to  abandon  the  Whigs.  All 
his  life  he  had  been  a  loyal  Henry  Clay  Whig,  ardent  in  his 
devotion  to  the  party,  sincerely  attached  to  its  principles. 
His  friends  were  of  that  party,  and  never  had  a  man's  party 
friends  been  more  willing  than  his  to  aid  his  ambition.  But 
the  Whigs  were  afraid  of  the  Anti-Nebraska  agitation.  Was 
he  being  forced  from  his  party  ?  He  hardly  knew.  "  I 
think  I  am  a  Whig,"  he  wrote  his  friend  Speed,  who  had 
inquired  where  he  stood,  "  but  others  say  there  are  no 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  289 

Whigs  and  that  I  am  an  Abolitionist."  This  was  in  August, 
1855.  The  events  of  the  next  few  months  showed  him  that 
he  must  stand  by  the  body  of  men  of  all  parties — Whig, 
Democratic,  Abolition,  Free  Soil — who  opposed  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  were  slowly  uniting  into 
the  new  Republican  party  to  fight  it 

The  first  decisive  step  to  organize  these  elements  in  Illi- 
nois was  an  editorial  convention  held  on  February  22,  1856, 
at  Decatur.  One  of  the  editors  interested,  Paul  Selby,  re- 
lates the  history  of  the  convention  in  an  unpublished  manu- 
script on  the  "  Formation  of  the  Republican  Party  in  Illi- 
nois," from  which  the  following  account  is  quoted : 

"  This  movement,  first  suggested  by  '  The  Morgan  Jour- 
nal '  at  Jacksonville,  having  received  the  approval  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  Anti-Nebraska  papers  of  the  State, 
resulted  in  the  issue  of  the  following  call : 

"  ( Editorial  Convention. — All  editors  in  Illinois  opposed 
to  the  Nebraska  bill  are  requested  to  meet  in  Convention  at 
Decatur,  Illinois,  on  the  22d  of  February  next,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  arrangements  for  organizing  the  Anti-Ne- 
braska forces  in  this  State  for  the  coming  contest.  All  edi- 
tors favoring  the  movement  will  please  forward  a  copy  of 
their  paper  containing  their  approval  to  the  office  of  the 
Illinois  l  State  Chronicle/  Decatur. 

"  Twenty-five  papers  indorsed  the  call,  but  on  the  day  of 
the  meeting  only  about  half  that  number  of  editors  put  in 
an  appearance.  One  reason  for  the  small  number  was  the 
fact  that,  on  the  night  before  a  heavy  snow-storm  had  fallen 
throughout  the  State,  obstructing  the  passage  of  trains  on 
the  two  railroads  centering  at  Decatur.  The  meeting  was 
held  in  the  parlor  of  the  *  Cassell  House ' — afterwards  the 
'Oglesby  House/  now  called  the  'St.  Nicholas  Hotel/ 
Those  present  and  participating  in  the  opening  proceedings, 
as  shown  by  the  official  report,  were:  E.  C.  Dougherty, 
'Register/  Rockford;  Charles  Faxon, '  Post/  Princeton;  A. 
N.  Ford,  '  Gazette/  Lacon ;  Thomas  J.  Pickctt,  '  Republi- 
can/ Peoria;  Virgil  Y.  Ralston,  '  Whig/  Quincy;  Charles 
(19) 


,29o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

H.  Ray,  'Tribune/  Chicago;  George  Schneider,  '  Staats 
Zeitung/ Chicago;  Paul  Selby,  '  Journal/  Jacksonville;  B. 
F.  Shaw,  '  Telegraph/  Dixon;  W.  J.  Usrey,  '  Chronicle; 
Decatur,  and  O.  P.  Wharton,  '  Advertiser/  Rock  Island.  In 
the  organization  Paul  Selby  was  made  Chairman  and  W.  J. 
Usrey,  Secretary,  while  Messrs.  Ralston,  Ray,  Wharton, 
Dougherty,  Prickett  and  Schneider  constituted  a  Committee 
on  Resolutions.  The  platform  adopted  as  '  a  basis  of  com- 
mon and  concerted  action '  among  the  members  of  the 
new  organization,  embraced  a  declaration  of  principles  that 
would  be  regarded  in  this  day  as  most  conservative  Repub- 
licanism, recognizing  '  The  legal  rights  of  the  slave  States 
to  hold  and  enjoy  their  property  in  slaves  under  their  State 
laws;  '  reaffirming  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, with  its  correlative  doctrine  that  '  Freedom  is 
national  and  slavery  sectional;'  declaring  assumption  of  the 
right  to  extend  slavery  on  the  plea  that  it  is  essential  to  the 
security  of  the  institution  '  an  invasion  of  our  rights  '  which 
'  must  be  resisted/  demanding  the  restoration  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  and  '  the  restriction  of  slavery  to  its 
present  authorized  limits/  advocating  the  maintenance  of 
'  the  naturalization  laws  as  they  are '  and  favoring  '  the 
widest  tolerance  in  matters  of  religion  and  faith '  (a  rebuke 
to  Know-Nothingism)  ;  pledging  resistance  to  assaults  upon 
the  common  school  system,  and  closing  with  a  demand  for 
reformation  in  the  administration  of  the  State  Government 
as  '  second  only  in  importance  to  the  question  of  slavery 
itself/  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  in  Decatur  during  the  day, 
and,  although  he  did  not  take  part  in  the  public  deliberations 
of  the  convention,  he  was  in  close  conference  with  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  and  the  impress  of  his  hand  is  seen  in 
the  character  of  the  platform  adopted.  Messrs.  Ray  and 
Schneider,  of  the  Chicago  press,  were  also  influential  fac- 
tors in  shaping  the  declaration  of  principles  with  which  the 
new  party  in  Illinois  started  on  its  long  career  of  almost  tin- 
interrupted  success. 

"  The  day's  proceedings  ended  with  a  complimentary  ban- 
quet given  to  the  editors  at  the  same  hotel  by  the  citizens 
of  Decatur.  Speeches  were  made  in  response  to  toasts  by 
Mr.  Lincoln,  R.  J.  Oglesby  (afterwards  Major-General  of 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  291 

Volunteers  and  three  times  Governor  of  Illinois — then  a 
young  lawyer  of  Decatur),  Ray  of  the  Chicago  '  Tribune/ 
Ralston  of  the  Quincy  'Whig'  and  others  among  the  editors. 
In  the  course  of  his  speech,  referring  to  a  movement  which 
some  of  the  editors  present  had  inaugurated  to  make  him 
the  Anti-Nebraska  candidate  for  Governor  at  the  ensuing 
election,  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  (in  substance)  as  follows:  'I 
wish  to  say  why  I  should  not  be  a  candidate.  If  I  should 
be  chosen,  the  Democrats  would  say  it  was  nothing  more 
than  an  attempt  to  resurrect  the  dead  body  of  the  old  Whig 
party.  I  would  secure  the  vote  of  that  party  and  no  more, 
and  our  defeat  will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  I 
can  suggest  a  name  that  will  secure  not  only  the  old  Whig 
vote,  but  enough  Ant i- Nebraska  Democrats  to  give  us  the 
victory.  That  man  is  Colonel  William  H.  Bissell.' 

"  Here  Mr.  Lincoln  again  displayed  his  characteristic  un- 
selfishness and  sagacity.  That  he  would,  at  that  time,  have 
regarded  an  election  to  the  Governorship  of  the  great  State 
of  Illinois  as  an  honor  not  worth  contending  for,  will  scarcely 
be  presumed.  He  was  seeking  more  important  results,  how- 
ever, in  the  interest  of  freedom  and  good  government — the 
ending  of  the  political  chaos  that  had  prevailed  for  the  past 
two  years  and  the  consolidation  of  the  forces  opposed  to 
slavery  extension  in  a  compact  political  organization.  Bis- 
sell had  been  an  officer  in  the  Mexican  War  with  a  good 
record ;  had  afterwards,  as  a  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Belleville  District,  opposed  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  and 
had  refused  to  be  brow-beaten  by  Jefferson  Davis  into  the 
retraction  of  statements  he  had  made  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress. As  will  appear  later,  he  was  nominated  and  Lincoln's 
judgment  vindicated  by  his  election  and  the  unification  of 
the  elements  which  afterwards  composed  the  Republican 
party. 

"  One  of  the  last  acts  of  the  editorial  convention  was  the 
appointment  of  a  State  Central  Committee,  consisting  of 
one  member  for  each  Congressional  District  and  two  for 
the  State  at  large.  Some  of  the  names  were  suggested  by 
Mr.  Lincoln,  while  the  others  received  his  approval.  .  .  . 
A  supplementary  resolution  recommended  the  holding  of  a 
State  Convention  at  Bloomington*  on  the  2$th  of  May  fol- 


292  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

lowing,  and  requested  the  committee  just  appointed  to  issue 
the  necessary  call  ............... 

"  It  is  a  coincidence  of  some  interest  that,  on  the  day  the 
Illinois  editors  were  in  session  at  Decatur  a  convention  of 
representatives  from  different  States,  with  a  similar  object 
in  view  for  the  country  at  large,  was  in  session  at  Pittsburg, 
Pa.  The  latter  was  presided  over  by  the  venerable  Francis 
P.  Blair,  of  Maryland,  while  among  its  most  prominent 
members  appear  such  names  as  those  of  Governor  E.  D. 
Morgan  of  New  York,  Horace  Greeley,  Preston  King, 
David  Wilmot,  Oliver  P.  Morton,  Joshua  R.  Giddings, 
Zachariah  Chandler  and  many  others  of  national  reputation. 
A  National  Committee  there  appointed  called  the  first  Na- 
tional Convention  of  the  Republican  party,  held  at  Phila- 
delphia on  'the  lyth  of  June." 


In  the  interval  'between  the  Decatur  meeting  and  the 
Bloomington  Convention  called  for  May  29,  the  excitement 
in  the  county  over  Kansas  grew  almost  to  a  frenzy.  The 
new  State  was  in  the  hands  of  a  pro-slavery  mob,  her  Gov- 
ernor a  prisoner,  her  capital  in  ruins,  her  voters  intimidated. 
The  newspapers  were  full  of  accounts  of  the  attack  on  Sum- 
ner  in  the  United  States  Senate  by  Brooks.  One  of  the 
very  men  who  <had  been  expected  to  be  a  leader  in  the 
Bloomington  Convention,  Paul  Selby,  was  lying  at  home 
prostrated  by  a  cowardly  blow  from  a  political  opponent. 
Little  wonder  then  that  when  the  Convention  met  its  mem- 
bers were  resolved  to  take  radical  action.  The  convention 
was  opened  with  John  M.  Palmer,  afterwards  United  States 
Senator,  in  its  chair,  and  in  a  very  short  time  it  had  adopted 
a  platform,  appointed  delegates  to  the  National  Convention, 
nominated  a  State  ticket,  completed,  in  short,  all  the  work 
of  organizing  the  Republican  Party  in  Illinois.  After  this 
work  of  organizing  and  nominating  was  finished,  there  was 
a  call  for  speeches.  The  convention  felt  the  need  of  some 
powerful  amalgamating  force  which  would  weld  its  dis- 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  293 

cordant  elements.  In  spite  of  the  best  intentions  of  the  mem- 
bers, their  most  manful  efforts,  they  knew  in  their  hearts  that 
they  were  still  political  enemies,  that  the  Whig  was  still  a 
Whig,  the  Democrat  a  Democrat,  the  Abolitionist  an  Aboli- 
tionist. Man  after  man  was  called  to  the  platform  and  spoke 
without  producing  any  marked  effect,  when  suddenly  there 
was  a  call  raised  of  a  name  not  on  the  program — "  Lin- 
coln " — "  Lincoln  " — "  give  us  Lincoln !  "  The  crowd  took 
it  up  and  made  the  hall  ring  until  a  tall  figure  rose  in  the 
back  of  the  audience  and  slowly  strode  down  the  aisle.  As 
he  turned  to  his  audience  there  came  gradually  a  great 
change  upon  his  face.  "  There  was  an  expression  of  in- 
tense emotion/'  Judge  Scott,  of  Bloomington,  once  told  the 
author.  "  It  was  the  emotion  of  a  great  soul.  Even  in 
stature  he  seemed  greater.  He  -seemed  to  realize  it  was  a 
crisis  in  his  life." 

Lincoln,  in  fact,  -had  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways  in 
his  political  life,  to  the  moment  when  he  must  publicly  break 
with  his  party.  For  two  years  he  had  tried  to  fight  slavery 
extension  under  the  name  of  a  Whig.  He  had  found  it 
could  not  be  done,  and  now  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  his 
conservative  friends  who  'had  vainly  tried  to  keep  him  away 
from  the  Bloomington  Convention,  he  was  facing  that  con- 
vention, was  openly  acknowledging  that  henceforth  he 
worked  with  the  Republican  Party. 

Lincoln's  extraordinary  human  insight  and  sympathy  told 
him  as  he  looked  at  his  audience  that  what  this  body  of 
splendid,  earnest,  but  groping  men  needed  was  to  feel  that 
they  had  undertaken  a  cause  of  such  transcendent  value  that 
beside  it  all  previous  alliances,  ambitions  and  duties  were  as 
nothing.  If  he  could  make  them  see  the  triviality  of  their 
differences  as  compared  with  the  tremendous  principle  of  the 
new  party,  he  was  certain  they  would  go  forth  Republicans 
in  spirit  as  well  as  in  name. 


294  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

He  began  his  speech,  then,  deeply  moved,  and  with  a  pro- 
found sense  of  the  importance  of  the  moment.  At  first 
he  spoke  slowly  and  haltingly,  but  gradually  he  grew  in  force 
and  intensity  until  his  hearers  arose  from  their  chairs  and 
with  pale  faces  and  quivering  lips  pressed  unconsciously  to- 
wards him.  Starting  from  the  back  of  the  broad  platform 
on  which  he  stood,  his  hands  on  liis  hips,  he  slowly  advanced 
towards  the  front,  his  eyes  blazing,  his  face  white  with  pas- 
sion, his  voice  resonant  with  the  force  of  his  conviction. 
As  he  advanced  he  seemed  to  his  audience  fairly  to  grow, 
and  when  at  the  end  of  a  period  he  stood  at  the  front  line  of 
the  stage,  hands  still  on  the  hips,  head  back,  raised  on  his 
tip  toes,  'he  seemed  like  a  giant  inspired.  "  At  that  moment 
he  was  the  -handsomest  man  I  ever  <saw,"  Judge  Scott  de- 
clared. 

So  powerful  was  his  effect  on  his  audience  that  men  and 
women  wept  as  they  cheered  and  children  there  that  night 
still  remember  the  scene,  though  at  the  time  they  understood 
nothing  of  its  meaning.  As  he  went  on  there  came  upon 
the  convention  the  very  emotion  he  sought  to  arouse. 
"  Every  one  in  that  before  incongruous  assembly  came  to 
feel  as  one  man,  to  think  as  one  man  and  to  purpose  and  re- 
solve as  one  man,"  says  one  of  his  auditors.  He  had  made 
every  man  of  them  pure  Republican.  He  did  something 
more.  The  indignation  which  the  outrages  in  Kansas  and 
throughout  the  country  had  aroused  was  uncontrolled.  Men 
talked  passionately  of  war.  It  was  at  this  meeting  that  Lin- 
coln, after  firing  his  hearers  by  an  expression  which  became 
a  watchword  of  the  campaign,  "  We  won't  go  out  of  the 
Union  and  you  shan't,"  poured  oil  on  the  wrath  of  the  Illi- 
nois opponents  of  the  Nebraska  bill  by  advising  "  ballots,  not 
bullets." 

Nothing  illustrates  better  the  extraordinary  power  of 
Lincoln's  speech  at  Bloomington  than  the  way  he  stirred  up 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  295 

the  newspaper  reporters.  It  was  before  the  stenographer 
had  become  acclimated  in  Illinois,  though  long-hand  re- 
ports were  regularly  taken.  Of  course,  all  the  leading  papers 
of  the  State  leaning  towards  the  new  party,  had  reporters  at 
the  convention.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Joseph  Medill. 

"  It  was  my  journalistic  duty,"  says  Mr.  Medill,  "  though 
a  delegate  to  the  convention,  to  make  a  '  long-hand '  report 
of  the  speeches  delivered  for  the  Chicago  *  Tribune/  I  did 
make  a  few  paragraphs  of  what  Lincoln  said  in  the  first  eight 
or  ten  minutes,  but  I  became  so  absorbed  in  his  mag- 
netic oratory  that  I  forgot  myself  and  ceased  to  take  notes; 
and  joined  with  the  convention  in  cheering  and  stamping 
and  clapping  to  the  end  of  his  speech. 

"  I  well  remember  that  after  Lincoln  sat  down  and  calm 
had  succeeded  the  tempest,  I  waked  out  of  a  sort  of  hypnotic 
trance,  and  then  thought  of  my  report  for  the  '  Tribune/ 
There  was  nothing  written  but  an  abbreviated  introduc- 
tion. 

"  It  was  some  sort  of  satisfaction  to  find  that  I  had  not 
been  '  scooped/  -as  all  the  newspaper  men  present  had  been 
equally  carried  away  by  the  excitement  caused  by  the  won- 
derful oration  and  had  made  no  report  or  sketch  of  the 
speech." 

A  number  of  Lincoln's  friends,  young  lawyers,  most  of 
them,  were  accustomed  to  taking  notes  of  speeches,  and  as 
usual  sharpened  their  pencils  as  he  began.  "  I  attempted  for 
about  fifteen  minutes,"  says  Mr.  Herndon,  Lincoln's  law 
partner,  "  as  was  usual  with  me  then  to  take  notes,  but  at 
the  end  of  that  time  I  threw  pen  and  paper  away  and  lived 
only  in  the  inspiration  of  the  hour."  The  result  of  this  ex- 
citement was  that  when  the  convention  was  over  there  was 
no  reporter  present  who  had  anything  for  his  newspaper. 
They  all  went  home  and  wrote  burning  editorials  about  the 
speech  and  its  great  principle,  but  as  to  reproducing  it  they 
could  not.  Men  came  to  talk  of  it  all  over  Illinois.  They 


296  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

realized  that  it  had  been  a  purifying  fire  for  the  party,  but 
as  to  what  it  contained  no  one  could  say.  Gradually  it  be- 
came known  as  Lincoln's  "  lost  speech."  From  the  very 
mystery  of  it  its  reputation  grew  greater  as  time  went  on. 

But  though  the  convention  so  nearly  to  a  man  lost  its 
head,  there  was  at  least  one  auditor  who  had  enough  control 
to  pursue  his  usual  habit  of  making  notes  of  the  speeches 
he  heard.  This  was  a  young  lawyer  on  the  same  circuit  as 
Lincoln,  Mr.  H.  C.  Whitney.  For  some  three  weeks  be- 
fore the  convention  Lincoln  and  Whitney  had  been  attend- 
ing court  at  Danville.  They  had  discussed  the  political 
situation  in  the  State  carefully,  and  to  Whitney  Lincoln  had 
stated  his  convictions  and  determinations.  In  a  way  Whit- 
ney had  absorbed  Lincoln's  speech  beforehand,  as  indeed  any 
one  must  have  done  who  was  with  Lincoln  when  he  was  pre- 
paring an  address,  it  being  his  habit  to  discuss  points  and  to 
repeat  them  aloud  indifferent  to  who  heard  him.  Whitney 
had  gone  to  the  convention  intending  to  make  notes,  know- 
ing, as  he  did,  that  Lincoln  had  not  written  out  what  he  was 
going  to  say.  Fortunately  he  had  a  cool  enough  head  to 
keep  to  his  purpose.  He  made  his  notes,  and  on  returning 
to  Judge  Davis's  home  in  Bloomington,  where  he,  with  Lin- 
coln and  one  or  two  others,  were  staying,  he  enlarged  them 
while  the  others  discussed  the  speech.  These  notes  Whitney 
kept  for  many  years,  always  intending  to  write  them  out, 
but  never  attending  to  it  until  the  author,  in  1896, 
learned  that  he  had  them  and  urged  him  to  expand  them. 
This  Mr.  Whitney  did,  and  the  speech  was  first  published  in 
"  McClure's  Magazine  "  for  September,  1896.  Mr.  Whitney 
does  not  claim  that  he  has  made  a  full  report.  He  does 
claim  that  the  argument  is  correct  and  that  in  many  cases  the 
expressions  are  exact.  A  few  quotations  will  show  any 
one  familiar  with  Lincoln's  speeches  that  Mr.  Whitney  has 
caught  much  of  their  style,  for  instance,  the  following : 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  297 


"  We  come — we  are  here  assembled  together — to  protest 
as  well  as  we  can  against  a  great  wrong,  and  to  take  meas- 
ures, as  well  as  we  now  can,  to  make  that  wrong  right;  to 
place  the  nation,  as  far  as  it  may  be  possible  now,  as  it  was 
before  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise;  and  the  plain 
way  to  do  this  is  to  restore  the  Compromise,  and  to  demand 
and  determine  that  Kansas  shall  be  free!  While  we  affirm, 
and  reaffirm,  if  necessary,  our  devotions  to  the  principles  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  let  our  practical  work  here 
be  limited  to  the  above.  We  know  that  there  is  not  a  perfect 
agreement  of  sentiment  here  on  the  public  questions  which 
might  be  rightfully  considered  in  this  convention,  and  that 
the  indignation  which  we  all  must  feel  cannot  be  helped; 
but  all  of  us  must  give  up  something  for  the  good  of  the 
cause.  There  is  one  desire  which  is  uppermost  in  the  mind, 
one  wish  common  to  us  all — to  which  no  dissent  will  be 
made;  and  I  counsel  you  earnestly  to  bury  all  resentment, 
to  sink  all  personal  feeling,  make  all  things  work  to  a  com- 
mon purpose  in  which  we  are  united  and  agreed  about,  and 
which  all  present  will  agree  is  absolutely  ncessary — which 
must  be  done  by  any  rightful  mode  if  there  be  such :  Slavery 
must  be  kept  out  of  Kansas!  The  test — the  pinch — is  right 
there.  If  we  lose  Kansas  to  freedom,  an  example  will  be 
set  which  wild  prove  fatal  to  freedom  in  the  end.  We,  there- 
fore, in  the  language  of  the  Bible f  must  '  lay  the  axe  to  the 
root  of  the  tree/  Temporizing  will  not  do  longer;  now 
is  the  time  for  decision — for  firm,  persistent,  resolute  ac- 
tion. 


"We  have  made  a  good  beginning  here  to-day.  As  our 
Methodist  friends  would  say,  *  I  feel  it  is  good  to  be  here.' 
While  extremists  may  find  some  fault  with  the  moderation 
of  our  platform,  they  should  remember  that '  the  battle  is  not 
always  to  the  strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift/  In  grave 
emergencies,  moderation  is  generally  safer  than  radicalism; 
and  as  this  struggle  is  likely  to  be  long  and  earnest,  we  must 
not,  by  our  action,  repel  any  who  are  in  sympathy  with  us 
in  the  main,  but  rather  win  all  that  we  can  to  our  standard. 


298  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

We  must  not  belittle  nor  overlook  the  facts  of  our  condition 
— that  we  are  new  and  comparatively  weak,  while  our 
enemies  are  entrenched  and  relatively  strong.  They  have  the, 
administration  and  the  political  power ;  and,  right  or  wrong, 
at  present  they  have  the  numbers.  Our  friends  who  urge  an 
appeal  to  arms  with  so  much  force  and  eloquence,  should 
recollect  that  the  government  is  arrayed  against  us,  and 
that  the  numbers  are  now  arrayed  against  us  as  well;  or, 
to  state  it  nearer  to  the  truth,  they  are  not  yet  expressly 
and  affirmatively  for  us;  and  we  should  repel  friends  rather 
than  gain  them  by  anything  savoring  of  revolutionary 
methods.  As  it  now  stands,  we  must  appeal  to  the  sober 
sense  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  We  will  make  converts 
day  by  day;  we  will  grow  strong  by  calmness  and  mode- 
ration; we  will  grow  strong  by  the  violence  and  injustice 
of  our  adversaries.  And,  unless  truth  be  a  mockery  and 
justice  a  hollow  lie,  we  will  be  in  the  majority  after  a  while, 
and  then  the  revolution  which  we  will  accomplish  will  be 
none  the  less  radical  from  being  the  result  of  pacific  meas- 
ures. The  battle  of  freedom  is  to  be  fought  out  on  principle. 
Slavery  is  a  violation  of  the  eternal  right.  We  have  tempo- 
rized with  it  from  the  necessities  of  our  condition,  but  as 
sure  as  God  reigns  and  school  children  read,  THAT  BLACK 

FOUL   LIE   CAN    NEVER   BE   CONSECRATED   INTO    GOD'S    HAL- 
LOWED TRUTH  ! 


"  I  will  not  say  that  we  may  not  sooner  or  later  be  com- 
pelled to  meet  force  by  force ;  but  the  time  has  not  yet  come, 
and  if  we  are  true  to  ourselves,  may  never  come.  Do  not 
mistake  that  the  ballot  is  stronger  than  the  bullet.  There- 
fore, let  the  legions  of  slavery  use  bullets;  but  let  us  wait 
patiently  till  November,  and  fire  ballots  at  them  in  return; 
and  by  that  peaceful  policy,  I  believe  we  shall  ultimately 
win. 

:•!••••••• 

"  Did  you  ever,  my  friends,  seriously  reflect  upon  the 
speed  with  which  we  are  tending  downwards?  Within 
the  memory  of  men  now  present  the  leading-  statesmen  of 
Virginia  could  make  genuine,  red-hot  abolitionist  speeche 


RE-ENTERS  POLITICS  299 

in  old  Virginia;  and,  as  I  have  said,  now  even  in  '  free 
Kansas '  it  is  a  crime  to  declare  that  it  is  '  free  Kansas.' 
The  very  sentiments  that  I  and  others  have  just  uttered, 
would  entitle  us,  and  each  of  us,  to  the  ignominy  and  se- 
clusion of  a  dungeon;  and  yet  I  suppose  that,  like  Paul,  we 
were  '  free  born/  But  if  this  thing  is  allowed  to  continue, 
it  will  be  but  one  step  further  to  impress  *the  same  rule  in 
Illinois. 

"The  conclusion  of  all  is,  that  we  must  restore  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise.  We  must  highly  resolve  that  Kansas 
must  be  free!  We  must  reinstate  the  birthday  promise  of 
the  Republic;  we  must  reaffirm  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence; we  must  make  good  in  essence  as  well  as  in  form 
Madison's  avowal  that  '  the  word  slave  ot  ght  not  to  ap- 
pear in  the  Constitution; '  and  we  must  even  go  further, 
and  decree  that  only  local  law,  and  not  that  time-honored 
instrument,  shall  shelter  a  slave-holder.  We  must  make  this 
a  land  of  liberty  in  fact,  as  it  is  in  name.  But  in  seeking  to 
attain  these  results — so  indispensable  if  the  liberty  which 
is  our  pride  and  boast  shall  endure — we  will  be  loyal  to  the 
Constitution  and  to  the  '  flag  of  our  Union/  and  no  matter 
what  our  grievance — even  though  Kansas  shall  come  in  as 
a  slave  State;  and  no  matter  what  theirs — even  if  we  shall 
restore  the  Compromise — WE  WILL  SAY  TO  THE  SOUTHERN 
DISUNIONISTS,  WE  WON'T  GO  OUT  OF  THE  UNION,,  AND 
YOU  SHAN'T!  !  ! 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS    DEBATES 

"  THE  greatest  speech  ever  made  in  Illinois,  and  it  puts 
Lincoln  on  the  track  for  the  Presidency/'  was  the  comment 
made  by  enthusiastic  Republicans  on  Lincoln's  speech  be- 
fore the  Bloomington  Convention.  Conscious  that  it  was 
he  who  had  put  the  breath  of  life  into  their  organization, 
the  party  instinctively  turned  to  him  as  its  leader.  The 
effect  of  this  local  recognition  wae  at  once  perceptible  in 
the  national  organization.  Less  than  three  weeks  after  the 
delivery  of  the  Bloomington  speech,  the  national  conven- 
tion of  the  Republican  party  met  in  Philadelphia  June 
17,  to  nominate  candidates  for  the  presidency  and  vice- 
presidency.  Lincoln's  name  was  the  second  proposed  for 
the  latter  office,  and  on  the  first  ballot  he  received  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  votes.  The  news  reached  him  at  Urbana,  111., 
where  he  was  attending  court,  one  of  his  companions  read- 
ing from  a  daily  paper  just  received  from  Chicago,  the 
result  of  the  ballot.  The  simple  name  Lincoln  was  given, 
without  the  name  of  the  man's  State.  Lincoln  said  indif- 
ferently that  he  did  not  suppose  it  could  be  himself;  and 
added  that  there  was  "  another  great  man  "  of  the  name, 
a  man  from  Massachusetts.  The  next  day,  however,  he 
knew  that  it  was  himself  to  whom  the  convention  had  giver; 
so  strong  an  endorsement.  He  knew  also  that  the  ticket 
chosen  was  Fremont  and  Dayton. 

The  campaign  of  the  following  summer  and  fall  was  one 
of  intense  activity  for  Lincoln.  In  Illinois  and  the  neigh- 
boring States  he  made  over  fifty  speeches,  only  fragments 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         301 

of  which  have  been  preserved.  One  of  the  first  important 
ones  was  delivered  on  July  4,  1856,  at  a  great  mass  meet- 
ing at  Princeton,  the  home  of  the  Lovejoys  and  the  Bry- 
ants. The  people  were  still  irritated  by  the  outrages  in 
Kansas  and  by  the  attack  on  Sumner  in  the  Senate,  and 
the  temptation  to  deliver  a  stirring  and  indignant  oration 
must  have  been  strong.  Lincoln's  speech  was,  however,  a 
fine  example  of  political  wisdom,  an  historical  argument  ad- 
mirably calculated  to  convince  his  auditors  that  they  were 
right  in  their  opposition  to  slavery  extension,  but  so  con- 
trolled and  sane  that  it  would  stir  no  impulsive  radical  to 
violence.  There  probably  was  not  uttered  in  the  United 
States  on  that  critical  4th  of  July,  1856,  when  the  very 
foundation  of  the  government  was  in  dispute  and  the  day 
itself  seemed  a  mockery,  a  cooler,  more  logical  speech  than 
this  by  the  -man  who,  a  month  before,  had  driven  a  con- 
vention so  nearly  mad  that  the  very  reporters  had  forgotten 
to  make  notes.  And  the  temper  of  this  Princeton  speech 
Lincoln  kept  throughout  the  campaign. 

In  spite  of  the  valiant  struggle  of  the  Republicans,  Bu- 
chanan was  elected;  but  Lincoln  was  in  no  way  discour- 
aged. The  Republicans  had  polled  1,341,264  votes  in  the 
country.  In  Illinois,  they  had  given  Fremont  nearly  100,- 
ooo  votes,  and  they  had  elected  their  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor, General  Bissell.  Lincoln  turned  from  argument? 
to  encouragement  and  good  counsel. 

"  All  of  us/'  he  said  at  a  Republican  banquet  in  Chicago, 
a  few  weeks  after  the  election,  "  who  did  not  vote  for  Mr. 
Buchanan,  taken  together,  are  a  majority  of  four  hundred 
thousand.  But  in  the  late  contest  we  were  divided  between 
Fremont  and  Fillmore.  Can  we  not  come  together  for 
the  future?  Let  every  one  who  really  believes  and  is  re- 
solved that  free  society  is  not  and  shall  not  be  a  failure, 
and  who  can  conscientiously  declare  that  in  the  last  con- 


302  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

test  he  has  done  only  what  he  thought  best — let  every  such 
one  have  charity  to  believe  that  every  other  one  can  say  as 
much.  Thus  let  bygones  be  bygones;  let  past  differences 
as  nothing  be;  and  with  steady  eye  on  the  real  issue  let  us 
reinaugurate  the  good  old  '  central  idea '  of  the  republic. 
We  can  do  it.  The  human  heart  is  with  us;  God  is  with 
us.  We  shall  again  be  able,  not  to  declare  that  '  all  States 
as  States  are  equal/  nor  yet  that  '  all  citizens  as  citizens  are 
equal/  but  to  renew  the  broader,  better  declaration,  includ- 
ing both  these  and  much  more,  that  'all  men  are  created 
equal/ ' 

The  spring  of  1857  gave  Lincoln  a  new  line  of  argu- 
ment. Buchanan  was  scarcely  in  the  Presidential  chair 
before  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  decision  of  the  Dred 
Scott  case,  declared  that  a  negro  could  not  sue  in  the  United 
States  courts  and  that  Congress  could  not  prohibit  slavery 
in  the  Territories.  This  decision  was  such  an  evident  ad- 
vance of  the  slave  power  that  there  was  a  violent  uproar  in 
the  North.  Douglas  went  at  once  to  Illinois  to  calm  his  con- 
stituents. "  What/'  he  cried,  "  oppose  the  Supreme  Court! 
Is  it  not  sacred  ?  To  resist  it  is  anarchy." 

Lincoln  met  him  fairly  on  the  issue  in  a  speech  at  Spring-* 
field  in  June,  1857. 

"  We  believe  as  much  as  Judge  Douglas  (perhaps  more) 
in  obedience  to  and  respect  for  the  judicial  department  of 
government.  .  .  .  But  we  think  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
is  erroneous.  We  know  the  court  that  made  it  has  often 
overruled  its  own  decisions,  and  we  shall  do  what  we  can  to 
have  it  overrule  this.  We  offer  no  resistance  to  it.  ... 
If  this  important  decision  had  been  made  by  the  unani- 
mous concurrence  of  the  judges,  and  without  any  ap- 
parent partisan  bias,  and  in  accordance  with  legal  pub- 
lic expectation  and  with  the  steady  practice  of  the  de- 
partments throughout  our  history,  and  had  been  in  no 
part  based  on  assumed  historical  facts  which  are  not  really 
true;  or  if,  wanting  in  some  of  these,  it  had  been  before 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        303 

the  court  more  than  once,  and  had  there  been  affirmed  and 
reaffirmed  through  a  course  of  years,  it  then  might  be,  per- 
haps would  be,  factious,  nay,  even  revolutionary,  not  to 
acquiesce  in  it  as  a  precedent.  But  when,  as  is  true,  we 
find  it  wanting  in  all  these  claims  to  the  public  confidence,  it 
is  not  resistance,  it  is  not  factious,  it  is  not  even  disrespect- 
ful, to  treat  it  as  not  having  yet  quite  established  a  settled 
doctrine  for  the  country/' 

Let  Douglas  cry  "  awful,"  "  anarchy,"  "  revolution,"  as 
much  as  he  would,  Lincoln's  arguments  against  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  appealed  to  common  sense  and  won  him 
commendation  all  over  the  country.  Even  the  radical  lead- 
ers of  the  party  in  the  East — Seward,  Sumner,  Theodore 
Parker — began  to  notice  him,  to  read  his  speeches,  to  con- 
sider his  arguments. 

With  every  month  of  1857  Lincoln  grew  stronger,  and 
his  election  in  Illinois  as  United  States  senatorial  candidate 
in  1858  against  Douglas  would  have  been  insured  if  Douglas 
had  not  suddenly  broken  with  Buchanan  and  his  party  in 
a  way  which  won  him  the  hearty  sympathy  and  respect  of 
a  large  part  of  the  Republicans  of  the  North.  By  a  fla- 
grantly unfair  vote  the  pro-slavery  leaders  of  Kansas  had 
secured  the  adoption  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  allow- 
ing slavery  in  the  State.  President  Buchanan  urged  Con- 
gress to  admit  Kansas  with  her  bogus  Constitution.  Doug- 
las, who  would  not  sanction  so  base  an  injustice,  opposed 
the  measure,  voting  with  the  Republicans  steadily  against 
the  admission.  The  Buchananists,  outraged  at  what  they 
called  "  Douglas's  apostasy,"  broke  with  him.  Then  it 
was  that  a  part  of  the  Republican  party,  notably  Horace 
Greeley  at  the  head  of  the  New  York  "  Tribune,"  struck 
by  the  boldness  and  nobility  of  Douglas's  opposition,  began 
to  hope  to  win  him  over  from  the  Democrats  to  the  Repub- 
licans. Their  first  step  was  to  counsel  the  leaders  of  their 


304 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


party  in  Illinois  to  put  up  no  candidate  against  Douglas  for 
the  United  States  senatorship  in  1858. 

Lincoln  saw  this  change  on  the  part  of  the  Republican 
leaders  with  dismay.  "  Greeley  is  not  doing  me  right,"  he 
said.  " ..  .  .  I  am  a  true  Republican,  and  have  been 
tried  already  in  the  hottest  part  of  the  anti-slavery  fight;  and 
yet  I  find  him  taking  up  Douglas,  a  veritable  dodger, — once 
a  tool  of  the  South,  now  its  enemy, — and  pushing  him  to 
the  front."  He  grew  so  restless  over  the  returning  popu- 
larity of  Douglas  among  the  Republicans  that  Herndon,  his 
law-partner,  determined  to  go  East  to  find  out  the  real  feel- 
ing of  the  Eastern  leaders  towards  Lincoln.  Herndon  had, 
for  a  long  time,  been  in  correspondence  with  the  leading 
abolitionists  and  had.no  difficulty  in  getting  interviews. 
The  returns  he  brought  back  from  his  canvass  were  not 
altogether  reassuring.  Seward,  Sumner,  Phillips,  Garrison, 
Beecher,  Theodore  Parker,  all  spoke  favorably  of  Lincoln, 
and  Seward  sent  him  word  that  the  Republicans  would 
never  take  up  so  slippery  a  quantity  as  Douglas  had  proved 
himself.  But  Greeley — the  all-important  Greeley — was 
lukewarm.  "  The  Republican  standard  is  too  high,"  he 
told  Herndon.  "  We  want  something  practical.  .  .  . 
Douglas  is  a  brave  man.  Forget  the  past  and  sustain  the 
righteous."  "Good  God,  righteous,  eh!"  groaned  Hern- 
don in  his  letter  to  Lincoln. 

But  though  the  encouragement  which  came  to  Lincoln 
from  the  East  in  the  spring  of  1858  was  meagre,  that  which 
came  from  Illinois  was  abundant.  There  the  Republicans 
supported  him  in  whole-hearted  devotion.  In  June,  the 
State  convention,  meeting  in  Springfield  to  nominate  its 
candidate  for  Senator,  declared  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  its 
first  and  only  choice  as  the  successor  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
The  press  was  jubilant.  "  Unanimity  is  a  weak  word," 
wrote  the  editor  of  the  Bloomington  "  Pantagraph,"  "  to 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        305 

express  the  universal  and  intense  feeling  of  the  convention. 
Lincoln!  LINCOLN!!  LINCOLN!!!  was  the  cry  every- 
where, whenever  the  senatorship  was  alluded  to.  Delegates 
from  Chicago  and  from  Cairo,  from  the  Wabash  and  the 
Illinois,  from  the  north,  the  center,  and  the  south,  were  alike 
fierce  with  enthusiasm,  whenever  that  loved  name  was 
breathed.  Enemies  at  home  and  misjudging  friends  abroad, 
who  have  looked  for  dissension  among  us  on  the  question  of 
the  senatorship,  will  please  take  notice  that  our  nomination  is 
a  unanimous  one;  and  that,  in  the  event  of  a  Republican 
majority  in  the  next  Legislature,  no  other  name  than  Lin- 
,coln's  will  be  mentioned,  or  thought  of,  by  a  solitary  Repub- 
lican legislator.  One  little  incident  in  the  convention  was  a 
pleasing  illustration  of  the  universality  of  the  Lincoln  senti- 
ment. Cook  county  had  brought  a  banner  into  the  assem- 
blage inscribed, '  Cook  County  for  Abraham  Lincoln/  Dur- 
ing a  pause  in  the  proceedings,  a  delegate  from  another 
county  rose  and  proposed,  with  the  consent  of  the  Cook 
county  delegation,  '  to  amend  the  banner  by  substituting  for 
"  Cook  County  "  the  word  which  I  hold  in  my  hand/  at  the 
same  time  unrolling  a  scroll,  and  revealing  the  word  '  Ill- 
inois '  in  huge  capitals.  The  Cook  delegation  promptly 
accepted  the  amendment,  and  amidst  a  perfect  hurricane  of 
hurrahs,  the  banner  was  duly  altered  to  express  the  sentiment 
of  the  whole  Republican  party  of  the  State,  thus :  '  Illinois 
for  Abraham  Lincoln/  " 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  of  his  nomination,  Lincoln  ad- 
dressed his  constituents.  The  first  paragraph  of  his  speech 
gave  the  key  to  the  campaign  he  proposed.  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  government  can- 
not endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other." 

Then  followed  the  famous  charge  of  conspiracy  against 


306  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

the  slavery  advocates,  the  charge  that  Pierce,  Buchanan, 
Chief  Justice  Taney,  and  Douglas  had  been  making  a  con- 
certed effort  to  legalize  the  institution  of  slavery  "  in  all  the 
States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South."  He 
marshalled  one  after  another  of  the  measures  that  the  pro- 
slavery  leaders  had  secured  in  the  past  four  years,  and 
clinched  the  argument  by  one  of  his  inimitable  illustrations : 

"  When  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  different  portions 
of  which  we  know  have  been  gotten  out  at  different  times 
and  places  and  by  different  workmen, — Stephen,  Franklin, 
Roger  and  James,*  for  instance, — and  we  see  these  timbers 
joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly  make  the  frame  of  a 
house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and  mortises  exactly  fitting, 
and  all  the  lengths  and  proportions  of  the  different  pieces 
exactly  adapted  to  their  respective  places,  and  not  a  piece  too 
many  or  too  few,  not  omitting  even  scaffolding — or,  if  a 
single  piece  be  lacking,  we  see  the  place  in  the  frame  exactly 
fitted  and  prepared  yet  to  bring  such  a  piece  in — in  such  a 
case  we  find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and 
Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another 
from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or 
draft,  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow  was  struck." 

The  speech  was  severely  criticised  by  Lincoln's  friends. 
It  was  too  radical.  It  was  sectional.  He  heard  the  com- 
plaints unmoved.  "  If  I  had  to  draw  a  pen  across  my 
record,"  he  said,  one  day,  "  and  erase  my  whole  life  from 
sight,  and  I  had  one  poor  gift  or  choice  left  as  to  what  I 
should  save  from  the  wreck,  I  should  choose  that  speech  and 
leave  it  to  the  world  unerased." 

The  speech  was,  in  fact,  one  of  great  political  adroitness. 
It  forced  Douglas  to  do  exactly  what  he  did  not  want  to  do 
in  Illinois:  explain  his  own  record  during  the  past  four 
years;  explain  the  true  meaning  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 

*  Stephen   A.    Douglas,    Franklin  Pierce,    Roger  Taney,    Jame* 
Buchanan. 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         307 

bill ;  discuss  the  Dred  Scott  decision ;  say  whether  or  not  he 
thought  slavery  so  good  a  thing  that  the  country  could  afford 
to  extend  it  instead  of  confining  it  where  it  would  be  in 
course  of  gradual  extinction.  Douglas  wanted  the  Republi- 
cans of  Illinois  to  follow  Greeley's  advice :  "  Forgive  the 
past."  He  wanted  to  make  the  most  among  them  of  his 
really  noble  revolt  against  the  attempt  of  his  party  to  fasten 
an  unjust  constitution  on  Kansas.  Lincoln  would  not  allow 
him  to  bask  for  an  instant  in  the  sun  of  that  revolt.  He 
crowded  him  step  by  step  through  his  party's  record,  and 
compelled  him  to  face  what  he  called  the  "  profound  central 
truth  "  of  the  Republican  party,  "  slavery  is  wrong  and 
ought  to  be  dealt  with  as  wrong." 

But  it  was  at  once  evident  that  Douglas  did  not  mean  to 
meet  the  issue  squarely.  He  called  the  doctrine  of  Lincoln's 
"  house-divided-against-itself  "  speech  "  sectionalism ;  "  his 
charge  of  conspiracy  "  false;  "  his  talk  of  the  wrong  of  slav- 
ery extension  "  abolitionism."  This  went  on  for  a  month. 
Then  Lincoln  resolved  to  force  Douglas  to  meet  his  argu- 
ments, and  challenged  him  to  a  series  of  joint  debates.  Doug- 
las was  not  pleased.  His  reply  to  the  challenge  was  irritable, 
even  slightly  insolent.  To  those  of  his  friends  who  talked 
with  him  privately  of  the  contest,  he  said :  "  I  do  not  feel, 
between  you  and  me,  that  I  want  to  go  into  this  debate.  The 
whole  country  knows  me,  and  has  me  measured.  Lincoln, 
as  regards  myself,  is  comparatively  unknown,  and  if  he  gets 
the  best  of  this  debate, — and  I  want  to  say  he  is  the  ablest 
man  the  Republicans  have  got, — I  shall  lose  everything  and' 
Lincoln  will  gain  everything.  Should  I  win,  I  shall  gain 
but  little.  I  do  not  want  to  go  into  a  debate  with  Abe." 
Publicly,  however,  he  carried  off  the  prospect  confidently, 
even  jauntily.  "  Mr.  Lincoln,"  he  said  patronizingly,  "  is  a 
kind,  amiable,  intelligent  gentleman."  In  the  mean  time  his 
constituents  boasted  loudly  of  the  fine  spectacle  they  were 


308  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

going  to  give  the  State — "  the  Little  Giant  chawing  up  Old 
Abe!" 

Many  of  Lincoln's  friends  looked  forward  to  the  encounter 
with  foreboding.  Often,  in  spite  of  their  best  intentions, 
they  showed  anxiety.  "  Shortly  before  the  first  debate  came 
off  at  Ottawa,"  says  Judge  H.  W.  Beckwith  of  Danville,  111. 
"  I  passed  the  Chenery  House,  then  the  principal  hotel  in 
Springfield.  The  lobby  was  crowded  with  partisan  leaders 
from  various  sections  of  the  State,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  from 
his  greater  height,  was  seen  above  the  surging  mass  that 
clung  about  him  like  a  swarm  of  bees  to  their  ruler.  He 
looked  careworn,  but  he  met  the  crowd  patiently  and  kindly, 
shaking  hands,  answering  questions,  and  receiving  assur- 
ances of  support.  The  day  was  warm,  and  at  the  first 
chance  he  broke  away  and  came  out  for  a  little  fresh  air, 
wiping  the  sweat  from  his  face. 

"As  he  passed  the  door  he  saw  me,  and,  taking  my  hand, 
inquired  for  the  health  and  views  of  his  '  friends  over  in 
Vermilion  county/  He  was  assured  they  were  wide  awake, 
and  further  told  that  they  looked  forward  to  the  debate 
between  him  and  Senator  Douglas  with  deep  concern.  From 
the  shadow  that  went  quickly  over  hre  face,  the  pained  look 
that  came  to  give  quickly  way  to  a  blaze  of  eyes  and  quiver 
of  lips,  I  felt  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  gone  beneath  my  mere 
words  and  caught  my  inner  and  current  fears  as  to  the  result. 
And  then,  in  a  forgiving,  jocular  way  peculiar  to  him,  he 
said,  '  Sit  down ;  I  have  a  moment  to  spare  and  will  tell  you 
a  story.'  Having  been  on  his  feet  for  some  time,  he  sat  on 
the  end  of  the  stone  step  leading  into  the  hotel  door,  while  I 
stood  closely  fronting  him. 

"  'You  have/  he  continued, '  seen  two  men  about  to  fight?  ' 

"  '  Yes,  many  times/ 

"  '  Well,  one  of  them  brags  about  what  he  means  to  do. 
He  jumps  high  in  the  *ir  cracking  his  heels  together,  smites 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        309 

his  fists,  and  wastes  his  breath  trying  to  scare  somebody.  You 
see  the  other  fellow,  he  says  not  a  word/ — here  Mr.  Lincoln's 
voice  and  manner  changed  to  great  earnestness,  and  repeat- 
ing— '  you  see  the  other  man  says  not  a  word.  His  arms 
are  at  his  side,  his  fists  are  closely  doubled  up,  his  head  is 
drawn  to  the  shoulder,  and  his  teeth  are  set  firm  together. 
He  is  saving  his  wind  for  the  fight,  and  as  sure  as  it  comes  off 
he  will  win  it,  or  die  a-trying/ 

"  He  made  no  other  comment,  but  arose,  bade  me  good- 
by,  and  left  me  to  apply  the  illustration." 

It  was  inevitable  that  Douglas's  friends  should  be  san- 
guine, Lincoln's  doubtful.  The  contrast  between  the  two 
candidates  was  almost  pathetic.  Senator  Douglas  was  the 
most  brilliant  figure  in  the  political  life  of  the  day.  Winning 
in  personality,  fearless  as  an  advocate,  magnetic  in  eloquence, 
shrewd  in  political  manoeuvring,  he  had  every  quality  to 
captivate  the  public.  His  resources  had  never  failed  him. 
From  his  entrance  into  Illinois  politics  in  1834,  he  had  been 
the  recipient  of  every  political  honor  his  party  had  to  bestow. 
For  the  past  eleven  years  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  where  he  had  influenced  all  the  important 
legislation  of  the  day  and  met  in  debate  every  strong  speaker 
of  North  and  South.  In  1852,  and  again  in  1856,  he  had 
been  a  strongly  supported,  though  unsuccessful,  candidate 
for  the  Democratic  presidential  nomination.  In  1858  he 
was  put  at  or  near  the  head  of  every  list  of  possible  presi- 
dential candidates  made  up  for  1860. 

How  barren  Lincoln's  public  career  in  comparison !  Three 
terms  in  the  lower  house  of  the  State  Assembly,  one  term  in 
Congress,  then  a  failure  which  drove  him  from  public  life. 
Now  he  returns  as  a  bolter  from  his  party,  a  leader  in  a  new 
organization  which  the  conservatives  are  denouncing  as 
"  visionary,"  "  impractical,"  "  revolutionary." 

No  one  recognized  more  clearly  than  Lincoln  the  differ- 


310  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ence  between  himself  and  his  opponent.  "  With  me,"  he 
said,  sadly,  in  comparing  the  careers  of  himself  and  Douglas, 
"  the  race  of  ambition  has  been  a  failure — a  flat  failure. 
With  him  it  has  been  one  of  splendid  success."  He  warned 
his  party  at  the  outset  that,  with  himself  as  a  standard- 
bearer,  the  battle  must  be  fought  on  principle  alone,  without 
any  of  the  external  aids  which  Douglas's  brilliant  career 
gave.  "  Senator  Douglas  is  of  world-wide  renown,"  he 
said ;  "  All  the  anxious  politicians  of  his  party,  or  who  have 
been  of  his  party  for  years  past,  have  been  looking  upon  him 
as  certainly,  at  no  distant  day,  to  be  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  They  have  seen  in  his  round,  jolly,  fruitful 
face,  post-offices,  land-offices,  marshalships,  and  cabinet  ap- 
pointments, chargeships  and  foreign  missions,  bursting  and 
sprouting  out  in  wonderful  exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold 
of  by  their  greedy  hands.  And  as  they  have  been  gazing 
upon  this  attractive  picture  so  long,  they  cannot,  in  the  little 
distraction  that  has  taken  place  in  the  party,  bring  themselves 
to  give  up  the  charming  hope;  but  with  greedier  anxiety 
they  rush  about  him,  sustain  him,  and  give  him  marches,  tri- 
umphal entries,  and  receptions  beyond  what  even  in  the  days 
of  his  highest  prosperity  they  could  have  brought  about  in 
his  favor.  On  the  contrary,  nobody  has  ever  expected  me 
to  be  President.  In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has 
ever  seen  that  any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out.  These  are 
disadvantages,  all  taken  together,  that  the  Republicans  labor 
under.  We  have  to  fight  this  battle  upon  principle,  and  upon 
principle  alone." 

If  one  will  take  a  map  of  Illinois  and  locate  the  points  of 
the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates  held  between  August  21  and 
October  15,  1858,  he  will  see  that  the  whole  State  was  trav- 
ersed in  the  contest.  The  first  took  place  at  Ottawa,  about 
seventy-five  miles  southwest  of  Chicago,  on  August  21 ;  the 
second  at  Freeport,  near  the  Wisconsin  boundary,  on  August 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         311 

27.  The  third  was  in  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the 
State,  at  Jonesboro,  on  September  15.  Three  days  later  the 
contestants  met  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northeast  of 
Jonesboro,  at  Charleston.  The  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  de- 
bates were  held  in  the  western  part  of  the  State;  at  Gales- 
burg,  October  7;  Quincy,  October  13;  and  Alton,  Octo- 
ber 15. 

Constant  exposure  and  fatigue  were  unavoidable  in  meet- 
ing these  engagements.  Both  contestants  spoke  almost  every 
day  through  the  intervals  between  the  joint  debates;  and  as 
railroad  communication  in  Illinois  in  1858  was  still  very  in- 
complete, they  were  often  obliged  to  resort  to  horse,  car- 
riage, or  steamer  to  reach  the  desired  points.  Judge  Douglas 
succeeded,  however,  in  making  this  difficult  journey  some- 
thing of  a  triumphal  procession.  He  was  accompanied 
throughout  the  campaign  by  his  wife — a  beautiful  and  bril- 
liant woman — and  by  a  number  of  distinguished  Democrats. 
On  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  lie  had  always  a  special  car, 
sometimes  a  special  train.  Frequently  he  swept  by  Lincoln, 
side-tracked  in  an  accommodation  or  freight  train.  "  The 
gentleman  in  that  car  evidently  smelt  no  royalty  in  our  car- 
riage," laughed  Lincoln  one  day,  as  he  watched  from  the 
caboose  of  a  laid-up  freight  train  the  decorated  special  of 
Douglas  flying  by. 

It  was  only  when  Lincoln  left  the  railroad  and  crossed  the 
prairie,  to  speak  at  some  isolated  town,  that  he  went  in  state. 
The  attentions  he  received  were  often  very  trying  to  him. 
He  detested  what  he  called  "  fizzlegigs  and  fireworks,"  and 
would  squirm  in  disgust  when  his  friends  gave  him  a  genuine 
prairie  ovation.  Usually,  when  he  was  going  to  a  point 
distant  from  the  railway,  a  "  distinguished  citizen  "  met  him 
at  the  station  nearest  the  place  with  a  carriage.  When  they 
were  come  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  town,  a  long  pro- 
cession with  banners  and  band  would  appear  winding  across 


312  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  prairie  to  meet  the  speaker.  A  speech  of  greeting  was 
made,  and  then  the  ladies  of  the  entertainment  committee 
would  present  Lincoln  with  flowers,  sometimes  even  winding 
a  garland  about  his  head  and  lank  figure.  His  embarrass- 
ment at  these  attentions  was  thoroughly  appreciated  by  his 
friends.  At  the  Ottawa  debate  the  enthusiasm  of  his  support- 
ers was  so  great  that  they  insisted  on  carrying  him  from  the 
platform  to  the  house  where  he  was  to  be  entertained.  Power- 
less to  escape  from  the  clutches  of  his  admirers,  he  could  only 
cry,  "  Don't,  boys ;  let  me  down ;  come  now,  don't."  But  the 
"  boys  "  persisted,  and  they  tell  to-day  proudly  of  their  ex- 
ploit and  of  the  cordial  hand-shake  Lincoln,  all  embarrassed 
as  he  was,  gave  each  of  them  when  at  last  he  was  free. 

On  arrival  at  the  towns  where  the  joint  debates  were  held, 
Douglas  was  always  met  by  a  brass  band  and  a  salute  of 
thirty-two  guns  (the  Union  was  composed  of  thirty- two 
States  in  1858),  and  was  escorted  to  the  hotel  in  the  finest 
equipage  to  be  had.  Lincoln's  supporters  took  delight  in 
showing  their  contempt  of  Douglas's  elegance  by  affecting  a 
Republican  simplicity,  often  carrying  their  candidate  through 
the  streets  on  a  high  and  unadorned  hay-rack  drawn  by  farm 
horses.  The  scenes  in  the  towns  on  the  occasion  of  the  de- 
bates were  perhaps  never  equalled  at  any  other  of  the  hust- 
ings of  this  country.  No  distance  seemed  too  great  for  the 
people  to  go ;  no  vehicle  too  slow  or  fatiguing.  At  Charles- 
ton there  was  a  great  delegation  of  men,  women,  and  children 
present  which  had  come  in  a  long  procession  from  Indiana 
by  farm  wagons,  afoot,  on  horseback,  and  in  carriages.  The 
crowds  at  three  or  four  of  the  debates  were  for  that  day  im- 
mense. There  were  estimated  to  be  from  eight  thousand  to 
fourteen  thousand  people  at  Quincy,  some  six  thousand  at 
Alton,  from  ten  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  at  Charleston, 
some  twenty  thousand  at  Ottawa.  Many  of  those  at  Ottawa 
came  the  night  before.  "  It  was  a  matter  of  but  a  short 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         313 

time,"  says  Mi.  George  Beatty  of  Ottawa,  "  until  the  few 
hotels,  the  livery  stables,  and  private  houses  were  crowded, 
and  there  were  no  accommodations  left.  Then  the  cam- 
paigners spread  out  about  the  town,  and  camped  in  whatever 
spot  was  most  convenient.  They  went  along  the  bluff  and 
on  the  bottom-lands,  and  that  night  the  camp-fires,  spread 
up  and  down  the  valley  for  a  mile,  made  it  look  as  if  an  army 
was  gathered  about  us." 

When  the  crowd  was  massed  at  the  place  of  the  debate,  the 
scene  was  one  of  the  greatest  hubbub  and  confusion.  On  the 
corners  of  the  squares,  and  scattered  around  the  outskirts 
of  the  crowd,  were  fakirs  of  every  description,  selling  pain- 
killers and  ague  cures,  watermelons  and  lemonade;  jugglers 
and  beggars  plied  their  trades,  and  the  brass  bands  of  all 
the  four  corners  within  twenty-five  miles  tooted  and  pounded 
at  "  Hail  Columbia,  Happy  Land,"  or  "  Columbia,  the  Gem 
of  the  Ocean." 

Conspicuous  in  the  processions  at  all  the  points  was  what 
Lincoln  called  the  "  Basket  of  Flowers,"  thirty-two  young 
girls  in  a  resplendent  car,  representing  the  Union.  At 
Charleston,  a  thirty-third  young  woman  rode  behind  the  car, 
representing  Kansas.  She  carried  a  banner  inscribed :  "  I 
will  be  free ;  "  a  motto  which  brought  out  from  nearly  all 
the  newspaper  reporters  the  comment  that  she  was  too  fair 
to  be  long  free. 

The  mottoes  at  the  different  meetings  epitomized  the  popu- 
lar conception  of  the  issues  and  the  candidates.  Among  the 
Lincoln  sentiments  were : 

Illinois  born  under  the  Ordinance  of  '87. 

Free  Territories  and  Free  Men, 

Free  Pulpits  and  Free  Preachers, 
Free  Press  and  a  Free  Pen, 

Free  Schools  and  Free  Teachers. 


314  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"  Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way; 
The  girls  link  on  to  Lincoln,  their  mothers  were  for  Clay/* 

Abe  the  Giant-Killer. 
Edgar  County  for  the  Tall  Sucker. 

A  striking  feature  of  the  crowds  was  the  number  of  women 
they  included.  The  intelligent  and  lively  interest  they  took 
in  the  debates  caused  much  comment.  No  doubt  Mrs.  Doug- 
las's presence  had  something  to  do  with  this.  They  were 
particularly  active  in  receiving  the  speakers,  and  at  Quincy, 
Lincoln,  on  being  presented  with  what  the  local  press  de- 
scribed as  a  "  beautiful  and  elegant  bouquet,"  took  pains  to 
express  his  gratification  at  the  part  women  everywhere  took 
in  the  contest. 

While  this  helter-skelter  outpouring  of  prairiedom  had  the 
appearance  of  being  little  more  than  a  great  jollification,  a 
lawless  country  fair,  in  reality  it  was  with  the  majority  of 
the  people  a  profoundly  serious  matter.  With  every  discus- 
sion it  became  more  vital.  Indeed,  in  the  first  debate,  which 
was  opened  and  closed  by  Douglas,*  the  relation  of  the  two 
speakers  became  dramatic.  It  was  here  that  Douglas,  hoping 
to  fasten  on  Lincoln  the  stigma  of  "  abolitionist,"  charged 
him  with  having  undertaken  to  abolitionize  the  old  Whig 
party,  and  having  been  in  1854  a  subscriber  to  a  radical 
platform  proclaimed  at  Springfield.  This  platform  Doug- 
las read.  Lincoln,  when  he  replied,  could  only  say  he  was 
never  at  the  convention — knew  nothing  of  the  resolutions; 
but  the  impression  prevailed  that  he  was  cornered.  The 
next  issue  of  the  Chicago  "  Press  and  Tribune  "  dispelled  it. 
That  paper  had  employed  to  report  the  debates  the  first  short- 

*  By  the  terms  agreed  upon  by  Douglas  and  Lincoln  for  regulating 
the  debates  Douglas  opened  at  Ottawa,  Jonesboro,  Galesburg,  and  Al- 
ton with  an  hour  s  speech;  was  followed  by  Lincoln  with  a  speech  of 
one  and  a  half  hours,  and  closed  with  a  half-hour  speech.  At  the  three 
remaining  points,  Freeport,  Charleston,  and  Quincy,  Lincoln  opened 
and  closed. 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        315 

hand  reporter  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Robert  L.  Hitt — now  a  Mem- 
ber of  Congress  and  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  For- 
eign Affairs.  Mr.  Hitt,  when  Douglas  began  to  read  the 
resolutions,  took  an  opportunity  to  rest,  supposing  he  could 
get  the  original  from  the  speaker.  He  took  down  only  the 
first  line  of  each  resolution.  He  missed  Douglas  after  the 
debate,  but  on  reaching  Chicago,  where  he  wrote  out  his  re- 
port, he  sent  an  assistant  to  the  files  to  find  the  platform 
adopted  at  the  Springfield  Convention.  It  was  brought,  but 
when  Mr.  Hitt  began  to  transcribe  it  he  saw  at  once  that  it 
was  widely  different  from  the  one  Douglas  had  read.  There 
was  great  excitement  in  the  office,  and  the  staff,  ardently 
Republican,  went  to  work  to  discover  where  the  resolutions 
had  come  from.  It  was  found  that  they  originated  at  a 
meeting  of  radical  abolitionists  with  whom  Lincoln  had 
never  been  associated. 

The  "  Press  and  Tribune  "  announced  the  "  forgery,"  as  it 
was  called  in  a  caustic  editorial,  "  The  Little  Dodger  Cor- 
nered and  Caught."  Within  a  week  even  the  remote  school- 
districts  of  Illinois  were  discussing  Douglas's  action,  and 
many  of  the  most  important  papers  of  the  nation  had  made 
it  a  subject  of  editorial  comment. 

Almost  without  exception  Douglas  was  condemned.  No 
amount  of  explanation  on  his  part  helped  him.  "  The  par- 
ticularity of  Douglas's  charge,"  said  the  Louisville  "  Jour- 
nal," "  precludes  the  idea  that  he  was  simply  and  innocently 
mistaken."  Lovers  of  fair  play  were  disgusted,  and  those  of 
Douglas's  own  party  who  would  have  applauded  a  trick  too 
clever  to  be  discovered  could  not  forgive  him  for  one  which 
had  been  found  out.  Greeley  came  out  bitterly  against  him, 
and  before  long  wrote  to  Lincoln  and  Herndon  that  Douglas 
was  "  like  the  man's  boy  who  (he  said)  didn't  weigh  so 
much  as  he  expected  and  he  always  knew  he  wouldn't." 

Douglas's  error  became  a  sharp-edged  sword  in  Lincoln's 


3i6  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

hand.  Without  directly  referring  to  it,  he  called  his  hearers' 
attention  to  the  forgery  every  time  he  quoted  a  document 
by  his  elaborate  explanation  that  he  believed,  unless  there 
was  some  mistake  on  the  part  of  those  with  whom  the  matter 
originated  and  which  he  had  been  unable  to  detect,  that  this 
Was  correct.  Once  when  Douglas  brought  forward  a  docu- 
ment, Lincoln  blandly  remarked  that  he  could  scarcely  be 
blamed  for  doubting  its  genuineness  since  the  introduction 
of  the  Springfield  resolutions  at  Ottawa. 

It  was  in  the  second  debate,  at  Freeport,  that  Lincoln  made 
the  boldest  stroke  of  the  contest.  Soon  after  the  Ottawa 
debate,  in  discussing  his  plan  for  the  next  encounter,  with  a 
number  of  his  political  friends, — Washburne,  Cook,  Judd, 
and  others, — he  told  them  he  proposed  to  ask  Douglas  four 
questions,  which  he  read.  One  and  all  cried  halt  at  the  sec- 
ond question.  Under  no  condition,  they  said,  must  he  put  it. 
If  it  were  put,  Douglas  would  answer  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
win  the  senatorship.  The  morning  of  the  debate,  while  on 
the  way  to  Freeport,  Lincoln  read  the  same  questions  to  Mr. 
Joseph  Medill.  "  I  do  not  like  this  second  question,  Mr. 
Lincoln,"  said  Mr.  Medill.  The  two  men  argued  to  their 
journey's  end,  but  Lincoln  was  still  unconvinced.  Even 
after  he  reached  Freeport  several  Republican  leaders  came  to 
him  pleading,  "  Do  not  ask  that  question."  He  was  obdu- 
rate; and  he  went  on  the  platform  with  a  higher  head,  a 
haughtier  step  than  his  friends  had  noted  in  him  before.  Lin- 
coln was  going  to  ruin  himself,  the  committee  said  despond- 
ently ;  one  would  think  he  did  not  want  the  senatorship. 

The  mooted  question  ran  in  Lincoln's  notes :  "  Can  the 
people  of  a  United  States  territory  in  any  lawful  way,  against 
the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slav- 
ery from  its  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  Consti- 
tution ?  "  Lincoln  had  seen  the  irreconcilableness  of  Doug- 
las's own  measure  of  popular  sovereignty,  which  declared 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        317 

that  the  people  of  a  territory  should  be  left  to  regulate  their 
domestic  concerns  in  their  own  way  subject  only  to 
the  Constitution,  and  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  that  slaves,  being  property, 
could  not  under  the  Constitution  be  excluded  from  a 
territory.  He  knew  that  if  Douglas  said  no  to  this  question, 
his  Illinois  constituents  would  never  return  him  to  the  Sen* 
ate.  He  believed  that  if  he  said  yes,  the  people  of  the  South 
would  never  vote  for  him  for  President  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  willing  himself  to  lose  the  senatorship  in  order  to 
defeat  Douglas  for  the  Presidency  in  1860.  "  I  am  after 
larger  game;  the  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of  this," 
he  said  confidently. 

The  question  was  put,  and  Douglas  answered  it  with  rare 
artfulness.  "  It  matters  not,"  he  cried,  "  what  way  the  Su- 
preme Court  may  hereafter  decide  as  to  the  abstract  question 
whether  slavery  may  or  may  not  go  into  a  territory  under 
the  Constitution ;  the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  intro- 
duce it  or  exclude  it  as  they  please,  for  the  reason  that  slav- 
ery cannot  exist  a  day  or  an  hour  anywhere  unless  it  is  sup- 
ported by  local  police  regulations.  Those  police  regulations 
can  only  be  established  by  the  local  legislature,  and  if  the 
people  are  opposed  to  slavery,  they  will  elect  representatives 
to  that  body  who  will,  by  unfriendly  legislation,  effectually 
prevent  the  introduction  of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  for  it,  their  legislation  will  favor  its  ex- 
tension." 

His  Democratic  constituents  went  wild  over  the  clever  way 
in  which  Douglas  had  escaped  Lincoln's  trap.  He  now  prac- 
tically had  his  election.  The  Republicans  shook  their  heads. 
Lincoln  only  was  serene.  He  alone  knew  what  he  had  done. 
The  Freeport  debate  had  no  sooner  reached  the  pro-slavery 
press  than  a  storm  of  protest  went  up.  Douglas  had  be- 
trayed the  South.  He  had  repudiated  the  Supreme  Court 


LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

decision.  He  had  declared  that  slavery  could  be  kept  out 
of  the  territories  by  other  legislation  than  a  State  Constitu- 
tion. "  The  Freeport  doctrine/' or  "  the  theory  of  unfriendly 
legislation/'  as  it  became  known,  spread  month  by  month, 
and  slowly  but  surely  made  Douglas  an  impossible  candi- 
date in  the  South.  The  force  of  the  question  was  not  real- 
ized in  full  by  Lincoln's  friends  until  the  Democratic  party 
met  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1860,  and  the  Southern  dele- 
gates refused  to  support  Douglas  because  of  the  answer  he 
gave  to  Lincoln's  question  in  the  Freeport  debate  of  1858. 

"  Do  you  recollect  the  argument  we  had  on  the  way  up 
to  Freeport  two  years  ago  over  the  question  I  was  going  to 
ask  Judge  Douglas?"  Lincoln  asked  Mr.  Joseph  Medill, 
when  the  latter  went  to  Springfield  a  few  days  after  the 
election  of  1860. 

"  Yes,"  said  Medill,  "  I  recollect  it  very  well/' 

"  Don't  you  think  I  was  right  now  ?  " 

"  We  were  both  right.  The  question  hurt  Douglas  for  the 
Presidency,  but  it  lost  you  the  senator  ship." 

"  Yes,  and  I  have  won  the  place  he  was  playing  for." 

From  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  Lincoln  supple- 
mented the  strength  of  his  arguments  by  inexhaustible  good- 
humor.  Douglas,  physically  worn,  harassed  by  the  trend 
which  Lincoln  had  given  the  discussions,  irritated  that  his 
adroitness  and  eloquence  could  not  so  cover  the  fundamental 
truth  of  the  Republican  position  but  that  it  would  up  again, 
often  grew  angry,  even  abusive.  Lincoln  answered  him  with 
most  effective  raillery.  At  Havana,  where  he  spoke  the  day 
after  Douglas,  he  said : 

"  I  am  'nformed  that  my  distinguished  friend  yester- 
day became  a  little  excited — nervous,  perhaps — and  he  said 
something  about  fighting,  as  though  referring  to  a  pugilistic 
encounter  between  him  and  myself.  Did  anybody  in  this 
audience  hear  him  use  such  language?  [Cries  of  "Yes/'] 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        319 

I  am  informed  further,  that  somebody  in  his  audience,  rather 
more  excited  and  nervous  than  himself,  took  off  his  coat, 
and  offered  to  take  the  job  off  Judge  Douglas's  hands,  and 
fight  Lincoln  himself.  Did  anybody  here  witness  that  war- 
like proceeding?  [Laughter  and  cries  of  "Yes."]  Well, 
I  merely  desire  to  say  that  I  shall  fight  neither  Judge  Doug- 
las nor  his  second.  I  shall  not  do  this  for  two  reasons, 
which  I  will  now  explain.  In  the  first  place,  a  fight  would 
prove  nothing  which  is  in  issue  in  this  contest.  It  might  es- 
tablish that  Judge  Douglas  is  a  more  muscular  man  than 
myself,  or  it  might  demonstrate  that  I  am  a  more  muscular 
man  than  Judge  Douglas.  But  this  question  is  not  referred 
to  in  the  Cincinnati  platform,  nor  in  either  of  the  Spring- 
field platforms.  Neither  result  would  prove  him  right  nor 
me  wrong;  and  so  of  the  gentleman  who  volunteered  to  do 
this  fighting  for  him.  If  my  fighting  Judge  Douglas  would 
not  prove  anything,  it  would  certainly  prove  nothing  for 
me  to  fight  his  bottle-holder. 

"  My  second  reason  for  not  having  a  personal  encounter 
with  the  judge  is,  that  I  don't  believe  he  wants  it  himself. 
He  and  I  are  about  the  best  friends  in  the  world,  and  when 
we  get  together  he  would  no  more  think  of  fighting  me  than 
of  fighting  his  wife.  Therefore,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when 
the  judge  talked  about  fighting,  he  was  not  giving  vent  to 
any  ill  feeling  of  his  own,  but  merely  trying  to  excite — well, 
enthusiasm  against  me  on  the  part  of  his  audience.  And  as 
I  find  he  was  tolerably  successful,  we  will  call  it  quits." 

More  difficult  for  Lincoln  to  take  good-naturedly  than 
threats  and  hard  names  was  the  irrelevant  matters  which 
Douglas  dragged  into  the  debates  to  turn  attention  from  the 
vital  arguments.  Thus  Douglas  insisted  repeatedly  on  taunt- 
ing Lincoln  because  his  zealous  friends  had  carried  him  off 
the  platform  at  Ottawa.  "  Lincoln  was  so  frightened  by 
the  questions  put  to  him,"  said  Douglas,  "  that  he  could 
not  walk."  He  tried  to  arouse  the  prejudice  of  the  au- 
dience by  absurd  charges  of  abolitionism.  Lincoln  wanted 
to  give  negroes  social  equality;  he  wanted  a  negro  wife;  he 


320  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

was  willing  to  allow  Fred  Douglass  to  make  speeches  fot 
him.  Again  he  took  up  a  good  deal  of  Lincoln's  time  by 
forcing  him  to  answer  to  a  charge  of  refusing  to  vote  sup- 
plies for  the  soldiers  in  the  Mexican  War.  Lincoln  denied 
and  explained,  until  at  last,  at  Charleston,  he  turned  sud- 
denly to  Douglas's  supporters,  dragging  one  of  the  strong- 
est of  them — the  Hon.  O.  B.  Ficklin,  with  whom  he  had  been 
in  Congress  in  1848 — to  the  platform. 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  do  anything  with  Mr.  Ficklin,"  he  said, 
"  except  to  present  his  face  and  tell  you  that  he  personally 
knows  it  to  be  a  lie."  And  Mr.  Ficklin  had  to  acknowledge 
that  Lincoln  was  right. 

"  Judge  Douglas,"  said  Lincoln  in  speaking  of  this  policy, 
"  is  playing  cuttlefish — a  small  species  of  fish  that  has  no 
mode  of  defending  himself  when  pursued  except  by  throwing 
out  a  black  fluid  which  makes  the  water  so  dark  the  enemy 
cannot  see  it,  and  thus  it  escapes." 

The  question  at  stake  was  too  serious  in  Lincoln's  judg- 
ment, for  platform  jugglery.  Every  moment  of  his  time 
which  Douglas  forced  him  to  spend  answering  irrelevant 
charges  he  gave  begrudgingly.  He  struggled  constantly  to 
keep  his  speeches  on  the  line  of  solid  argument.  Slowly  but 
surely  those  who  followed  the  debates  began  to  understand 
this.  It  was  Douglas  who  drew  the  great  masses  to  the  de- 
bates in  the  first  place ;  it  was  because  of  him  that  the  public 
men  and  the  newspapers  of  the  East,  as  well  as  of  the  West, 
watched  the  discussions.  But  as  the  days  went  on  it  was  not 
Douglas  who  made  the  impression. 

During  the  hours  of  the  speeches  the  two  men  seemed  well 
mated.  "  I  can  recall  only  one  fact  of  the  debates,"  says  Mrs. 
William  Crotty  of  Seneca,  Illinois,  "  that  I  felt  so  sorry  for 
Lincoln  while  Douglas  was  speaking,  and  then  to  my  surprise 
I  felt  so  sorry  for  Douglas  when  Lincoln  replied."  The  dis- 
interested to  whom  it  was  an  intellectual  game,  felt  the  power 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        321 

and  charm  of  both  men.  Partisans  had  each  reason  enough 
to  cheer.  It  was  afterwards,  as  the  debates  were  talked  over 
by  auditors  as  they  lingered  at  the  country  store  or  were 
grouped  on  the  fence  in  the  evening,  or  when  they  were  read 
in  the  generous  reports  which  the  newspapers  of  Illinois  and 
even  of  other  States  gave,  that  the  thoroughness  of  Lincoln's 
argument  was  understood.  Even  the  first  debate  at  Ottawa 
had  a  surprising  effect.  "  I  tell  you/'  says  Mr.  George  Beatty 
of  Ottawa,  "  that  debate  set  people  thinking  on  these  import- 
ant questions  in  a  way  they  hadn't  dreamed  of.  I  heard  any 
number  of  men  say :  '  This  thing  is  an  awfully  serious  ques- 
tion, and  I  have  about  concluded  Lincoln  has  got  it  right/ 
My  father,  a  thoughtful,  God-fearing  man,  said  to  me,  as 
we  went  home  to  supper,  '  George,  you  are  young,  and  don't 
see  what  this  thing  means,  as  I  do.  Douglas's  speeches  of 
"  squatter  sovereignty  "  please  you  younger  men,  but  I  tell 
you  that  with  us  older  men  it's  a  great  question  that  faces  us. 
We've  either  got  to  keep  slavery  back  or  it's  going  to  spread 
all  over  the  country.  That's  the  real  question  that's  behind 
all  this.  Lincoln  is  right.'  And  that  was  the  feeling  that 
prevailed,  I  think,  among  the  majority,  after  the  debate  was 
over.  People  went  home  talking  about  the  danger  of  slav- 
ery getting  a  hold  in  the  North.  This  territory  had  been 
Democratic;  La  Salle  County,  the  morning  of  the  day  of  the 
debate,  was  Democratic ;  but  when  the  next  day  came  around, 
hundreds  of  Democrats  had  been  made  Republicans,  owing 
to  the  light  in  which  Lincoln  had  brought  forward  the  fact 
that  slavery  threatened." 

It  was  among  Lincoln's  own  friends,  however,  that  his 
speeches  produced  the  deepest  impression.  They  had  be- 
lieved him  to  be  strong,  but  probably  there  was  no  one  of 
them  who  had  not  felt  dubious  about  his  ability  to  meet 
Douglas.  Many  even  feared  a  fiasco.  Gradually  it  began 
to  be  clear  to  them  that  Lincoln  was  the  stronger.  Could  it 


322.  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

be  that  Lincoln  really  was  a  great  man?  The  young  Re- 
publican journalists  of  the  "  Press  and  Tribune  " — Scripps, 
Hitt,  Medill — began  to  ask  themselves  the  question.  One 
evening  as  they  talked  over  Lincoln's  arguments  a  letter  was 
received.  It  came  from  a  prominent  Eastern  statesman. 
"  Who  is  this  man  that  is  replying  to  Douglas  in  your 
State?  "  he  asked.  "  Do  you  realize  that  no  greater  speeches 
have  been  made  on  public  questions  in  the  history  of  our 
country;  that  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  profound,  his 
logic  unanswerable,  his  style  inimitable?"  Similar  letters 
kept  coming  from  various  parts  of  the  country.  Before  the 
campaign  was  over  Lincoln's  friends  were  exultant.  Their 
favorite  was  a  great  man,  "  a  full-grown  man,"  as  one  of 
them  wrote  in  his  paper. 

The  country  at  large  watched  Lincoln  with  astonishment. 
When  the  debates  began  there  were  Republicans  in  Illinois 
of  wider  national  reputation.  Judge  Lyman  Trumbull,  then 
Senator,  was  better  known.  He  was  an  able  debater,  and 
a  speech  which  he  made  in  August  against  Douglas's  record 
called  from  the  New  York  "  Evening  Post "  the  remark : 
"  This  is  the  heaviest  blow  struck  at  Senator  Douglas  since 
he  took  the  field  in  Illinois;  it  is  unanswerable,  and  we  sus- 
pect that  it  will  be  fatal."  Trumbull's  speech  the  "  Post " 
afterwards  published  in  pamphlet  form.  Besides  Trumbull, 
Owen  Lovejoy,  Oglesby,  and  Palmer  were  all  speaking. 
That  Lincoln  should  not  only  have  so  far  outstripped  men  of 
his  own  party,  but  should  have  out-argued  Douglas,  was  the 
cause  of  comment  everywhere.  "  No  man  of  this  genera- 
tion," said  the  "  Evening  Post "  editorially,  at  the  close  of 
the  debate,  "  has  grown  more  rapidly  before  the  country  than 
Lincoln  in  this  canvass."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Lincoln  had 
attracted  the  attention  of  all  the  thinking  men  of  the  coun- 
try. "  The  first  thing  that  really  awakened  my  interest  in 
him,"  says  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  "  was  his  speech  parallel 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES        323 

with  Douglas  in  Illinois,  and  indeed  it  was  that  manifesta- 
tion of  ability  that  secured  his  nomination  to  the  presi- 
dency." 

But  able  as  were  Lincoln's  arguments,  deep  as  was  the  im- 
pression he  had  made,  he  was  not  elected  to  the  senatorship. 
Douglas  won  fairly  enough ;  though  it  is  well  to  note  that  if 
the  Republicans  did  not  elect  a  senator  they  gained  a  sub- 
stantial number  of  votes  over  those  polled  in  1856. 

Lincoln  accepted  the  result  with  a  serenity  inexplicable 
to  his  supporters.  To  him  the  contest  was  but  one  battle  in 
a  "  durable  "  struggle.  Little  matter  who  won  now,  if  in 
the  end  the  right  triumphed.  From  the  first  he  had  looked 
at  the  final  result — not  at  the  senatorship.  "  I  do  not  claim, 
gentlemen,  to  be  unselfish,"  he  said  at  Chicago  in  July.  "  I 
do  not  pretend  that  I  would  not  like  to  go  to  the  United  States 
Senate;  I  make  no  such  hypocritical  pretense;  but  I  do  say 
to  you  that  in  this  mighty  issue,  it  is  nothing  to  you,  nothing 
to  the  mass  of  the  people  of  the  nation,  whether  or  not  Judge 
Douglas  or  myself  shall  ever  be  heard  of  after  this  night ;  it 
may  be  a  trifle  to  either  of  us,  but  in  connection  with  this 
mighty  question,  upon  which  hang  the  destinies  of  the  na- 
tion perhaps,  it  is  absolutely  nothing." 

The  intense  heat  and  fury  of  the  debates,  the  defeat  in 
November,  did  not  alter  a  jot  this  high  view.  "  I  am  glad  I 
made  the  late  race,"  he  wrote  Dr.  A.  G.  Henry.  "  It  gave 
me  a  hearing  on  the  great  and  durable  question  of  the  age 
which  I  would  have  had  in  no  other  way ;  and  though  I  now 
sink  out  of  view  and  shall  be  forgotten,  I  believe  I  have  made 
some  marks  which  will  tell  for  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  long 
after  I  am  gone." 

At  that  date  perhaps  no  one  appreciated  the  value  of  what 
Lincoln  had  done  as  well  as  he  did  himself.  He  was  abso- 
lutely sure  he  was  right  and  that  in  the  end  people  would 
see  it.  Though  he  might  not  rise,  he  knew  his  cause  would. 


324  L*FE  OF  LINCOLN 

"  Douglas  had  the  ingenuity  to  be  supported  in  the  late  con- 
test both  as  the  best  means  to  break  down  and  to  uphold  the 
slave  interest/'  he  wrote.  "  No  ingenuity  can  keep  these  an- 
tagonistic elements  in  harmony  long.  Another  explosion 
will  soon  occur."  His  whole  attention  was  given  to  conserv- 
ing what  the  Republicans  had  gained, — "  We  have  some 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  clear  Republican  votes. 
That  pile  is  worth  keeping  together ;  "  to  consoling  his 
friends, — "  You  are  feeling  badly,"  he  wrote  to  N.  B.  Judd, 
Chairman  of  the  Republican  Committee,  "  and  this  too  shall 
pass  away,  never  fear;"  to  rallying  for  another  effort, — 
"  The  cause  of  civil  liberty  must  not  be  surrendered  at  the 
end  of  one  or  even  one  hundred  defeats." 

If  Lincoln  had  at  times  a  fear  that  his  defeat  would  cause 
him  to  be  set  aside,  it  soon  was  dispelled.  The  interest 
awakened  in  him  was  genuine,  and  it  spread  with  the  wider 
reading  and  discussion  of  his  arguments.  He  was  besieged 
by  letters  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  congratulations,  en- 
couragements, criticisms.  Invitations  for  lectures  poured  in 
upon  him,  and  he  became  the  first  choice  of  his  entire  party 
for  political  speeches. 

The  greater  number  of  these  invitations  he  declined.  He 
had  given  so  much  time  to  politics  since  1854  that  his  law 
practice  had  been  neglected  and  he  was  feeling  poor;  but 
there  were  certain  of  the  calls  which  could  not  be  resisted. 
Douglas  spoke  several  times  for  the  Democrats  of  Ohio  in 
the  1859  campaign  for  governor  and  Lincoln  naturally  was 
asked  to  reply.  He  made  but  two  speeches,  one  at  Columbus 
on  September  16  and  the  other  at  Cincinnati  on  September 
17,  but  he  had  great  audiences  on  both  occasions.  The 
Columbus  speech  was  devoted  almost  entirely  to  answering 
an  essay  by  Douglas  which  had  been  published  in  the  Sep- 
tember number  of  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  and  which  began 
by  asserting  that — "  Under  our  complex  system  of  gov- 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         325 

ernment  it  is  the  first  duty  of  American  statesmen  to  mark 
distinctly  the  dividing-line  between  Federal  and  Local  au- 
thority." It  was  an  elaborate  argument  for  "  popular  sov- 
ereignty "  and  attracted  national  attention.  Indeed,  at  the 
moment  it  was  the  talk  of  the  county.  Lincoln  literally  tore 
it  to  bits. 

"What  is  Judge  Douglas's  popular  sovereignty? "  he 
asked.  "  It  is,  as  a  principle,  no  other  than  that  if  one 
man  chooses  to  make  a  slave  of  another  man,  neither  that 
other  man  nor  anybody  else  has  a  right  to  object.  Applied 
in  government,  as  he  seeks  to  apply  it,  it  is  this:  If,  in  a 
new  territory  into  which  a  few  people  are  beginning  to 
enter  for  the  purpose  of  making  their  homes,  they  choose 
to  either  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  or  to  establish  it 
there,  however  one  or  the  other  may  affect  the  persons  to 
be  enslaved,  or  the  infinitely  greater  number  of  persons  who 
are  afterward  to  inhabit  that  Territory,  or  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  families  of  communities,  of  which  they  are  but 
an  incipient  member,  or  the  general  head  of  the  family  of 
States  as  parent  of  all — however  their  action  may  affect  one 
or  the  other  of  these,  there  is  no  power  or  right  to  interfere* 
That  is  Douglas's  popular  sovereignty  applied." 

It  was  in  this  address  that  Lincoln  uttered  the  oft-quoted 
paragraphs : 

"  I  suppose  the  institution  of  slavery  really  looks  small 
to  him.  He  is  so  put  up  by  nature  that  a  lash  upon  his  back 
would  hurt  him,  but  a  lash  upon  anybody  else's  back  does 
not  hurt  him.  That  is  the  build  of  the  man,  and  conse- 
quently he  looks  upon  the  matter  of  slavery  in  this  unim- 
portant light. 

"  Judge  Douglas  ought  to  remember,  when  he  is  endeav- 
oring to  force  this  policy  upon  the  American  people,  that 
while  he  is  put  up  in  that  way,  a  good  many  are  not.  He 
ought  to  remember  that  there  was  once  in  this  country  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  supposed  to  be  a 
Democrat — a  man  whose  principles  and  policy  are  not  very 


326  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

prevalent  amongst  Democrats  to-day,  it  is  true;  kut  that 
man  did  not  take  exactly  this  view  of  the  insignificance  of 
the  element  of  slavery  which  our  friend  Judge  Douglas 
does.  In  contemplation  of  this  thing,  we  all  know  he  was  led 
to  exclaim,  '  I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I  remember  that 
God  is  just ! '  We  know  how  he  looked  upon  it  when  he 
thus  expressed  himself.  There  was  danger  to  this  country, 
danger  of  the  avenging  justice  of  God,  in  that  little  unim- 
portant popular-sovereignty  question  of  Judge  Douglas.  He 
supposed  there  was  a  question  of  God's  eternal  justice 
wrapped  up  in  the  enslaving  of  any  race  of  men,  or  any 
man,  and  that  those  who  did  so  braved  the  arm  of  Jehovah — 
that  when  a  nation  thus  dared  the  Almighty,  every  friend  of 
that  nation  had  cause  to  dread  his  wrath.  Choose  ye  be- 
tween Jefferson  and  Douglas  as  to  what  is  the  true  view 
of  this  element  among  us." 

One  interesting  point  about  the  Columbus  address  is  that 
in  it  appears  the  germ  of  the  Cooper  Institute  speech  deliv- 
ered five  months  later  in  New  York  City. 

Lincoln  made  so  deep  an  impression  in  Ohio  by  his 
speeches  that  the  State  Republican  Committee  asked  per- 
mission to  publish  them  together  with  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
Debates  as  campaign  documents  in  the  presidential  election 
of  the  next  year. 

In  December  he  yielded  to  the  persuasion  of  his  Kansas 
political  friends  and  delivered  five  lectures  in  that  State, 
only  fragments  of  which  have  been  preserved. 

Unquestionably  the  most  effective  piece  of  work  he  did 
that  winter  was  the  address  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York, 
on  February  27.  He  had  received  an  invitation  in  the  fall 
of  1859  to  lecture  at  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn.  To  his 
friends  it  was  evident  that  he  was  greatly  pleased  by  the 
compliment,  but  that  he  feared  that  he  was  not  equal  to 
an  Eastern  audience.  After  some  hesitation  he  accepted, 
wovided  they  would  take  a  political  speech  if  he  could  find 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES       327 

time  to  get  up  no  other.  When  he  reached  New  York  he 
found  that  he  was  to  speak  there  instead  of  Brooklyn,  and 
that  he  was  certain  to  have  a  distinguished  audience.  Fear- 
ful lest  he  was  not  as  well  prepared  as  he  ought  to  be,  con- 
scious, too,  no  doubt,  that  he  had  a  great  opportunity  before 
him,  he  spent  nearly  all  of  the  two  days  and  a  half  before 
his  lecture  in  revising  his  matter  and  in  familiarizing  him- 
self with  it.  In  order  that  he  might  be  sure  that  he  was 
heard  he  arranged  with  his  friend,  Mason  Brayman,  who 
had  come  on  to  New  York  with  him,  to  sit  in  the  back  of 
the  hall  and  in  case  he  did  not  speak  loud  enough  to  raise 
his  high  hat  on  a  cane. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  audience  was  a  notable  one  even  for  New 
York.  It  included  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who  introduced 
him,  Horace  Greeley,  David  Dudley  Field  and  many  more 
well  known  men  of  the  day.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  were 
any  persons  present,  even  his  best  friends,  who  expected 
that  Lincoln  would  do  more  than  interest  his  hearers  by  his 
sound  arguments.  Many  have  confessed  since  that  they 
feared  his  queer  manner  and  quaint  speeches  would  amuse 
people  so  much  that  they  would  fail  to  catch  the.  weight  of 
his  logic.  But  to  the  surprise  of  everybody  Lincoln  im- 
pressed his  audience  from  the  start  by  his  dignity  and  his 
seriousness.  "  His  manner  was,  to  a  New  York  audience,  a 
very  strange  one,  but  it  was  captivating/'  wrote  an  auditor. 
"  He  held  the  vast  meeting  spellbound,  and  as  one  by  one  his 
oddly  expressed  but  trenchant  and  convincing  arguments 
confirmed  the  soundness  of  his  political  conclusions,  the 
house  broke  out  in  wild  and  prolonged  enthusiasm.  I  think 
I  never  saw  an  audience  more  thoroughly  carried  away  by  an 
orator." 

The  Cooper  Union  speech  was  founded  on  a  sentence  from 
one  of  Douglas's  Ohio  speeches : — "  Our  fathers  when  they 
framed  the  government  under  which_we  live  understood 


328  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now." 
Douglas  claimed  that  the  u  fathers  "  held  that  the  Constitu- 
tion forbade  the  Federal  government  controlling  slavery  in 
the  Territories.  Lincoln  with  infinite  care  had  investigated 
the  opinions  and  votes  of  each  of  the  "  fathers  " — whom 
he  took  to  be  the  thirty-nine  men  who  signed  the  Constitu- 
tion— and  showed  conclusively  that  a  majority  of  them 
"  certainly  understood  that  no  proper  division  of  local  from 
Federal  authority  nor  any  part  of  the  Constitution  forbade 
the  Federal  government  to  control  slavery  in  the  Federal 
Territories."  Not  only  did  he  show  this  of  the  thirty-nine 
framers  of  the  original  Constitution,  but  he  defied  anybody 
to  show  that  one  of  the  seventy-six  members  of  the  Con- 
gress which  framed  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  ever 
held  any  such  view. 

"  Let  all,"  he  said,  "  who  believe  that  '  our  fathers  who 
framed  the  government  under  which  we  live  understood  this 
question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now/  speak 
as  they  spoke,  and  act  as  they  acted  upon  it.  This  is  all  Re- 
publicans ask — all  Republicans  desire — in  relation  to  slav- 
ery. As  those  fathers  marked  it,  so  let  it  be  again  marked, 
as  an  evil  not  to  be  extended,  but  to  be  tolerated  and  pro- 
tected only  because  of  and  so  far  as  its  actual  presence  among 
us  makes  that  toleration  and  protection  a  necessity.  Let  all 
the  guaranties  those  fathers  gave  it  be  not  grudgingly,  but 
fully  and  fairly,  maintained.  For  this  Republicans  contend, 
and  with  this,  so  far  as  I  know  or  believe,  they  will  be  con- 
tent." 

One  after  another  he  took  up  and  replied  to  the  charges 
the  South  was  making  against  the  North  at  the  moment : — 
Sectionalism,  radicalism,  giving  undue  prominence  to  the 
slave  question,  stirring  up  insurrection  among  slaves,  refus- 
ing to  allow  constitutional  rights,  and  to  each  he  had  an  un- 
impassloned  answer  impregnable  with  facts. 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         329 

The  discourse  was  ended  with  what  Lincoln  felt  to  be  a 
precise  statement  of  the  opinion  of  the  question  on  both 
sides,  and  of  the  duty  of  the  Republican  party  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. This  portion  of  his  address  is  one  of  the  finest 
early  examples  of  that  simple  and  convincing  style  in  which 
most  of  his  later  public  documents  were  written. 

"  If  slavery  is  right,"  he  said,  "  all  words,  acts,  laws,  and 
constitutions  against  it  are  themselves  wrong,  and  should  be 
silenced  and  swept  away.  If  it  is  right,  we  cannot  justly 
object  to  its  nationality — its  universality ;  if  it  is  wrong,  they 
cannot  justly  insist  upon  its  extension — its  enlargement.  All 
they  ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right ; 
all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it 
wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right  and  our  thinking  it  wrong 
is  the  precise  fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole  controversy. 
Thinking  it  right,  as  they  do,  they  are  not  to  blame  for  de- 
siring its  full  recognition  as  being  right;  but  thinking  it 
wrong,  as  we  do,  can  we  yield  to  them?  Can  we  cast  our 
votes  with  their  view,  and  against  our  own  ?  In  view  of  our 
moral,  social,  and  political  responsibilities,  can  we  do  this  ? 

"  Wrong,  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford  to  let  it 
alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the  necessity 
arising  from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation;  but  can  we, 
while  our  votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the 
national  Territories,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  these  free 
States?  If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand 
by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted 
by  none  of  those  sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we  are 
so  industriously  plied  and  belabored — contrivances  such  as 
groping  for  some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  the 
wrong :  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be  neither 
a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man ;  such  as  a  policy  of  '  don't  care ' 
on  a  question  about  which  all  true  men  do  care;  such  as 
Union  appeals  beseeching  true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Dis- 
unionists,  reversing  the  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the 
sinners,  but  the  righteous  to  repentance ;  such  as  invocations 
to  Washington,  imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Washington 
said  and  undo  what  Washington  did. 


330  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

"  Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  ac« 
cusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces  of 
destruction  to  the  government,  nor  of  dungeons  to  ourselves. 
Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith 
let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 

From  New  York  Lincoln  went  to  New  Hampshire  to 
visit  his  son  Robert,  then  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy.  His 
coming  was  known  only  a  short  time  before  he  arrived  and 
hurried  arrangements  were  made  for  him  to  speak  at  Con- 
cord, Manchester,  Exeter  and  Dover.  At  Concord  the  ad- 
dress was  made  in  the  afternoon  on  only  a  few  hours'  notice, 
nevertheless,  he  had  a  great  audience,  so  eager  were  men  at 
the  time  to  hear  anybody  who  had  serious  arguments  on  the 
slavery  question.  Something  of  the  impression  Lincoln  made 
in  New  Hampshire  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  ar- 
ticle, "  Mr.  Lincoln  in  New  Hampshire,"  which  appeared 
in  the  Boston  "  Atlas  and  Bee  "  for  March  5 : 

The  Concord  "  Statesman  "  says  that  notwithstanding  the 
rain  of  Thursday,  rendering  travelling  very  inconvenient,  the 
largest  hall  in  that  city  was  crowded  to  hear  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  editor  says  it  was  one  of  the  most  powerful,  logical  and 
compacted  speeches  to  which  it  was  ever  our  fortune  to  lis- 
ten ;  an  argument  against  the  system  of  slavery,  and  in  de- 
fence of  the  position  of  the  Republican  party,  from  the  de- 
ductions of  which  no  reasonable  man  could  possibly  escape. 
He  fortified  every  position  assumed,  by  proofs  which  it  is 
impossible  to  gainsay ;  and  while  his  speech  was  at  intervals 
enlivened  by  remarks  which  elicited  applause  at  the  expense 
of  the  Democratic  party,  there  was,  nevertheless,  not  a  single 
word  which  tended  to  impair  the  dignity  of  the  speaker,  or 
weaken  the  force  of  the  great  truths  he  uttered. 

The  "  Statesman  "  adds  that  the  address  "  was  perfect, 
and  was  closed  by  a  peroration  which  brought  his  audience 
to  their  feet.  We  are  not  extravagant  in  the  remark,  that  a 
political  speech  of  greater  power  has  rarely  if  ever  been  ut- 
tered in  the  Capital  of  New  Hampshire.  At  its  conclusio 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         331 

nine  roof-raising  cheers  were  given;  three  for  the  speaker, 
three  for  the  Republicans  of  Illinois,  and  three  for  the  Re- 
publicans of  New  Hampshire." 

On  the  same  evening  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  Manchester,  to 
an  immense  gathering  in  Smyth's  Hall.  The  "  Mirror/'  a 
neutral  paper,  gives  the  following  enthusiastic  notice  of  his 
speech :  "  The  audience  was  a  flattering  one  to  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  speaker.  It  was  composed  of  persons  of  all  sorts 
of  political  notions,  earnest  to  hear  one  whose  fame  was  so 
great,  and  we  think  most  of  them  went  away  thinking  better 
of  him  than  they  anticipated  they  should.  He  spoke  an  hour 
and  a  half  with  great  fairness,  great  apparent  candor,  and 
with  wonderful  interest.  He  did  not  abuse  the  South,  the 
Administration,  or  the  Democrats,  or  indulge  in  any  person- 
alities, with  the  solitary  exception  of  a  few  hits  at  Doug- 
las's notions.  He  is  far  from  prepossessing  in  personal  ap- 
pearance, and  his  voice  is  disagreeable,  and  yet  he  wins  your 
attention  and  good  will  from  the  start. 

"  He  indulges  in  no  flowers  of  rhetoric,  no  eloquent  pas- 
sages ;  he  is  not  a  wit,  a  humorist  or  a  clown ;  yet,  so  great  a 
vein  of  pleasantry  and  good  nature  pervades  what  he  says, 
gilding  over  a  deep  current  of  practical  argument,  he  keeps 
his  hearers  in  a  smiling  good  mood  with  their  mouths  open 
ready  to  swallow  all  he  says.  His  sense  of  the  ludicrous  is 
very  keen,  and  an  exhibition  of  that  is  the  clincher  of  all  his 
arguments ;  not  the  ludicrous  acts  of  persons,  but  ludicrous 
ideas.  Hence  he  is  never  offensive,  and  steals  away  willingly 
into  his  train  of  belief,  persons  who  are  opposed  to  him. 
For  the  first  half  hour  his  opponents  would  agree  with  every 
word  he  uttered,  and  from  that  point  he  began  to  lead  them 
off,  little  by  little,  cunningly,  till  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  got 
them  all  into  his  fold.  He  displays  more  shrewdness,  more 
knowledge  of  the  masses  of  mankind  than  any  public  speaker 
we  have  heard  since  long  Jim  Wilson  left  for  California." 

From  New  Hampshire  Lincoln  went  to  Connecticut, 
where  on  March  5  he  spoke  at  Hartford,  on  March  6  at  New 
Haven,  on  March  8  at  Woo n socket,  on  March  9  at  Norwich. 
There  are  no  reports  of  the  New  Hampshire  speeches,  but 


332  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

two  of  the  Connecticut  speeches  were  published  in  part  and 
one  in  full.  Their  effect  was  very  similar,  according  to  the 
newspapers  of  the  day,  to  that  in  New  Hampshire,  described 
by  the  "  Atlas  and  Bee." 

By  his  debates  with  Douglas  and  the  speeches  in  Ohio, 
Kansas,  New  York  and  New  England,  Lincoln  had  become 
a  national  figure  in  the  minds  of  all  the  political  leaders  of 
the  country,  and  of  the  thinking  men  of  the  North.  Never 
in  the  history  of  the  United  States  had  a  man  become 
prominent  in  a  more  logical  and  intelligent  way.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  struggle  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  in  1854,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  scarcely  known 
outside  of  his  own  State.  Even  most  of  the  men  whom  he 
had  met  in  his  brief  term  in  Congress  had  forgotten  him. 
Yet  in  four  years  he  had  become  one  of  the  central  figures 
of  his  party;  and  now,  by  worsting  the  greatest  orator  and 
politician  of  his  time,  he  had  drawn  the  eyes  of  the  nation  to 
him. 

It  had  been  a  long  road  he  had  travelled  to  make  himself 
a  national  figure.  Twenty-eight  years  before  he  had  delib- 
erately entered  politics.  He  had  been  beaten,  but  had  per- 
sisted; he  had  succeeded  and  failed;  he  had  abandoned  the 
struggle  and  returned  to  his  profession.  His  outraged  sense 
of  justice  had  driven  him  back,  and  for  six  years  he  had 
travelled  up  and  down  Illinois  trying  to  prove  to  men  that 
slavery  extension  was  wrong.  It  was  by  no  one  speech,  by 
no  one  argument  that  he  had  wrought.  Every  day  his  cease- 
less study  and  pondering  gave  him  new  matter,  and  every 
speech  he  made  was  fresh.  He  could  not  repeat  an  old 
speech,  he  said,  because  the  subject  enlarged  and  widened 
so  in  his  mind  as  he  went  on  that  it  was  "  easier  to  make  a 
new  one  than  an  old  one."  He  had  never  yielded  in  his  cam- 
paign to  tricks  of  oratory — never  played  on  emotions.  He 
had  been  so  strong  in  his  convictions  of  the  rip-ht  of  his  case 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES         333 

that  his  speeches  had  been  arguments  pure  and  simple.  Their 
elegance  was  that  of  a  demonstration  in  Euclid.  They  per- 
suaded because  they  proved.  He  had  never  for  a  moment 
counted  personal  ambition  before  the  cause.  To  insure  an 
ardent  opponent  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  he  had  at  one  time  given  up  his  chance  for 
the  senatorship.  To  show  the  fallacy  of  Douglas's  argu- 
ment, he  had  asked  a  question  which  his  party  pleaded  with 
him  to  pass  by,  assuring  him  that  it  would  lose  him  the  elec- 
tion. In  every  step  of  these  six  years  he  had  been  disinter- 
ested, calm,  unyielding,  and  courageous.  He  knew  he  was 
right,  and  could  afford  to  wait.  "  The  result  is  not  doubt- 
ful/' he  told  his  friends.  "  We  shall  not  fail — if  we  stand 
firm.  We  shall  not  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate  or 
mistakes  delay  it ;  but,  sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to 
come." 

The  country,  amazed  at  the  rare  moral  and  intellectual 
character  of  Lincoln,  began  to  ask  questions  about  him,  and 
then  his  history  came  out;  a  pioneer  home,  little  schooling, 
few  books,  hard  labor  at  all  the  many  trades  of  the  frontiers- 
man, a  profession  mastered  o'  nights  by  the  light  of  a 
friendly  cooper's  fire,  an  early  entry  into  politics  and  law — 
and  then  twenty-five  years  of  incessant  poverty  and  strug- 

gle. 

The  homely  story  gave  a  touch  of  mystery  to  the  figure 
which  loomed  so  large.  Men  felt  a  sudden  reverence  for  a 
mind  and  heart  developed  to  these  noble  proportions  in  so 
unfriendly  a  habitat.  They  turned  instinctively  to  one  so 
familiar  with  strife  for  help  in  solving  the  desperate  prob- 
lem with  which  the  nation  had  grappled.  And  thus  it  was 
that,  at  fifty  years  of  age,  Lincoln  became  a  national 


CHAPTER  XIX 
LINCOLN'S  NOMINATION  IN  1860 

THE  possibility  of  Abraham  Lincoln  becoming  the  presi- 
dential candidate  of  the  Republican  party  in  1860  was  proba- 
bly first  discussed  by  a  few  of  his  friends  in  1856.  The  dra- 
matic speech  which  in  May  of  that  year  gave  him  the  leader- 
ship of  his  party  in  Illinois,  and  the  unexpected  and  flatter- 
ing attention  he  received  a  few  weeks  later  at  the  Republican 
national  convention  suggested  the  idea ;  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  anything  more  was  excited  than  a  little  specu- 
lation. The  impression  Lincoln  made  two  years  later  in  the 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates  kindled  a  different  feeling.  It 
convinced  a  number  of  astute  Illinois  politicians  that  ju- 
dicious effort  would  make  Lincoln  strong  enough  to  justify 
the  presentation  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  in  1860  on  the 
ground  of  pure  availability. 

One  of  the  first  men  to  conceive  this  idea  was  Jesse  W. 
Fell,  a  local  politician  of  Bloomington,  Illinois.  During  the 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates  Fell  was  travelling  in  the 
Middle  and  Eastern  States.  He  was  surprised  to  find  that 
Lincoln's  speeches  attracted  general  attention,  that  many 
papers  copied  liberally  from  them,  and  that  on  all  sides  men 
plied  him  with  questions  about  the  career  and  personality 
of  the  new  man.  Before  Fell  left  the  East  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  that  Lincoln  must  be  pushed  by  his  own  State  as  its 
presidential  candidate.  One  evening,  soon  after  returning 
home,  he  met  Lincoln  in  Bloomington,  where  the  latter  was 
attending  court,  and  drew  him  into  a  deserted  law-office  for  a 
confidential  talk. 

334 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  335 

"  I  have  been  East,  Lincoln,"  said  he,  "  as  far  as  Boston, 
and  up  into  New  Hampshire,  travelling  in  all  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  save  Maine;  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Indiana;  and  everywhere  I 
hear  you  talked  about.  Very  frequently  I  have  been  asked, 
*  Who  is  this  man  Lincoln,  of  your  State,  now  canvassing 
in  opposition  to  Senator  Douglas  ? '  Being,  as  you  know, 
an  ardent  Republican  and  your  friend,  I  usually  told  them 
we  had  in  Illinois  two  giants  instead  of  one;  that  Douglas 
was  the  little  one,  as  they  all  knew,  but  that  you  were  the  big 
one,  which  they  didn't  all  know. 

"  But,  seriously,  Lincoln,  Judge  Douglas  being  so  widely 
known,  you  are  getting  a  national  reputation  through  him, 
and  the  truth  is,  I  have  a  decided  impression  that  if  your 
popular  history  and  efforts  on  the  slavery  question  can  be 
sufficiently  brought  before  the  people,  you  can  be  made  a 
formidable,  if  not  a  successful,  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency." 

"  What's  the  use  of  talking  of  me  for  the  presidency," 
was  Lincoln's  reply,  "  whilst  we  have  such  men  as  Seward, 
Chase,  and  others,  who  are  so  much  better  known  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  whose  names  are  so  intimately  associated  with  &3 
principles  of  the  Republican  party  ?  Everybody  knows  them ; 
nobody  scarcely  outside  of  Illinois  knows  me.  Besides,  is 
it  not,  as  a  matter  of  justice,  due  to  such  men,  who  have  car- 
ried this  movement  forward  to  its  present  status,  in  spite  of 
fearful  opposition,  personal  abuse,  and  hard  names  ?  I  really 
think  so." 

Fell  continued  his  persuasions,  and  finally  requested  Lin- 
coln to  furnish  him  a  sketch  of  his  life  which  could  be  put 
out  in  the  East.  The  suggestion  grated  on  Lincoln's  sensi- 
bilities. He  had  no  chance.  Why  force  himself?  "  Fell," 
he  said,  rising  and  wrapping  his  old  gray  shawl  around  his 
tall  figure,  "  I  admit  that  I  am  ambitious  and  would  like  to 


336  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

be  President.  I  am  not  insensible  to  the  compliment  you  pay 
me  and  the  interest  you  manifest  in  the  matter ;  but  there  is 
no  such  good  luck  in  store  for  me  as  the  presidency  of  these 
United  States.  Besides,  there  is  nothing  in  my  early  history 
that  would  interest  you  or  anybody  else ;  and,  as  Judge  Da- 
vis says,  '  it  won't  pay.'  Good  night."  And  he  disappeared 
into  the  darkness. 

Lincoln's  defeat  in  November,  1858,  in  the  contest  for 
the  United  States  senatorship,  in  no  way  discouraged  his 
friends.  A  few  days  after  the  November  election,  when  it 
was  known  that  Douglas  had  been  reflected  senator,  the  Chi- 
cago "  Democrat,"  then  edited  by  "  Long  John "  Went- 
worth,  printed  an  editorial,  nearly  a  column  in  length,  headed 
"Abraham  Lincoln."  His  work  in  the  campaign  then  just 
closed  was  reviewed  and  commended  in  the  highest  terms. 

"His  speeches,"  the  "Democrat"  declared,  "will  be 
recognized  for  a  long  time  to  come  as  the  standard  authori- 
ties upon  those  topics  which  overshadow  all  others  in  the 
political  world  of  our  day ;  and  our  children  will  read  them 
and  appreciate  the  great  trtkhs  which  they  so  forcibly  incul- 
cate, with  even  a  higher  appreciation  of  their  worth  than 
*heir  fathers  possessed  while  listening  to  them. 

"  We,  for  our  part,"  said  the  "  Democrat  "  further,  "  con- 
sider that  it  would  be  but  a  partial  appreciation  of  his  services 
to  our  noble  cause  that  our  next  State  Republican  Convention 
should  nominate  him  for  governor  as  unanimously  and  en- 
thusiastically as  it  did  for  senator.  With  such  a  leader  and 
with  our  just  cause,  we  would  sweep  the  State  from  end  to 
end,  with  a  triumph  so  complete  and  perfect  that  there  would 
be  scarce  enough  of  the  scattered  and  demoralized  forces  of 
the  enemy  left  to  tell  the  story  of  its  defeat.  And  this  State 
should  also  present  his  name  to  the  National  Republican 
Convention,  first  for  President  and  next  for  Vice-President. 
We  should  then  say  to  the  United  States  at  large  that  in  our 
opinion  the  Great  Man  of  Illinois  is  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
none  other  than  Abraham  Lincoln." 


NOMINATION  IN  1860 


337 


All  through  the  year  1859  a  few  men  in  Illinois  worked 
quietly  but  persistently  to  awaken  a  demand  throughout  the 
State  for  Lincoln's  nomination.  The  greater  number  of 
these  were  lawyers  on  Lincoln's  circuit,  his  life-long  friends, 
men  like  Judge  Davis,  Leonard  Swett,  and  Judge  Logan, 
who  not  only  believed  in  him,  but  loved  him,  and  whose  ef- 
forts were  doubly  effective  because  of  their  affection.  In  ad- 
dition to  these  were  a  few  shrewd  politicians  who  saw  in 
Lincoln  the  "  available  "  man  the  situation  demanded ;  and 
a  group  represented  by  John  M.  Palmer,  who,  remembering 
Lincoln's  magnanimity  in  throwing  his  influence  to  Trum- 
bull  in  1854,  in  order  to  send  a  sound  Anti-Nebraska  man 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  wanted,  as  Senator  Palmer  him- 
self put  it,  to  "  pay  Lincoln  back."  Then  there  were  a  few 
young  men  who  had  been  won  by  Lincoln  in  the  debates 
with  Douglas,  and  who  threw  youthful  enthusiasm  and  con- 
viction into  their  support.  The  first  time  his  name  was  sug- 
gested as  a  candidate  in  the  newspapers,  indeed,  was  because 
the  young  editor  of  the  Central  Illinois  "  Gazette,"  Mr.  W. 
O.  Stoddard,  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  Lincoln's  inner  might 
and  concluding  in  a  sudden  burst  of  boyish  exultation 
that  Lincoln  was  "  the  greatest  man  he  had  ever  seen  or 
heard  of,"  had  rushed  off  and  written  an  editorial  nominat- 
ing him  for  the  presidency ;  this  editorial  was  published  on 
May  4,  1859. 

The  work  which  these  men  did  at  this  time  cannot  be 
traced  with  any  definiteness.  It  consisted  mainly  in  "  talk- 
ing up  "  their  candidate.  They  were  greatly  aided  by  the 
newspapers.  The  press,  indeed,  followed  a  concerted  plan 
that  had  been  carefully  laid  out  by  the  Republican  State 
Committee  in  the  office  of  the  Chicago  "  Tribune."  To  give 
an  appearance  of  spontaneity  to  the  newspaper  canvass  it 
was  arranged  that  the  country  papers  should  first  take  up 
Lincoln's  name,  Joseph  Medill,  editor  of  the.  "  Tribune/' 


338  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

and  secretary  of  the  committee,  says  that  a  Rock  Island  pa- 
per opened  the  campaign. 

Lincoln  soon  felt  the  force  of  this  effort  in  his  behalf. 
Letters  came  to  him  from  unexpected  quarters,  offering  aid. 
Everywhere  he  went  on  the  circuit,  men  sought  him  to  dis- 
cuss the  situation.  In  the  face  of  an  undoubted  movement 
for  him  he  quailed.  The  interest  was  local ;  could  it  ever  be 
more  ?  Above  all,  had  he  the  qualifications  for  President  of 
the  United  States?  He  asked  himself  these  questions  as  he 
pondered  a  reply  to  an  editor  who  had  suggested  announc- 
ing his  name,  and  he  wrote;  "  I  must  in  all  candor  say  I 
do  not  think  myself  fit  for  the  presidency." 

This  was  in  April,  1859.  *n  tne  Julv  following  he  still 
declared  himself  unfit.  Even  in  the  following  November 
he  had  little  hope  of  nomination.  "  For  my  single  self,"  he 
wrote  to  a  correspondent  who  had  suggested  the  putting  of 
his  name  on  the  ticket,  "  I  have  enlisted  for  the  permanent 
success  of  the  Republican  cause,  and  for  this  object  I  shall 
labor  faithfully  in  the  ranks,  unless,  as  I  think  not  probable, 
the  judgment  of  the  party  shall  assign  me  a  different  posi- 
tion." 

The  last  weeks  of  1859  anc*  tne  ^rst  °f  I^6o  convinced 
Lincoln,  however,  that,  fit  or  not,  he  was  in  the  field.  Fell, 
who  as  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Republican  State  Cen- 
tral Committee  had  been  travelling  constantly  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  organization,  brought  him  such  proof  that  his 
candidacy  was  generally  approved  of,  that  in  December, 
1859,  he  consented  to  write  the  "  little  sketch  "  of  his  life 
now  known  as  Lincoln's  "  autobiography." 

He  wrote  it  with  a  little  inward  shrinking,  a  half  shame 
that  it  was  so  meagre.  "  There  is  not  much  of  it,"  he  apolo- 
gized in  sending  the  document,  "  for  the  reason,  I  suppose, 
that  there  is  not  much  of  me.  If  anything  be  made  out  of  it, 
I  wish  it  to  be  modest,  and  not  to  go  beyond  the  material." 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  339 

By  the  opening  of  1860  Lincoln  had  concluded  that, 
though  he  might  not  be  a  very  promising  candidate,  at  all 
events  he  was  now  in  so  deep  that  he  must  have  the  approval 
of  his  own  State,  and  he  began  to  work  in  earnest  for  that. 
"  I  am  not  in  a  position  where  it  would  hurt  much  for  me  to 
not  be  nominated  on  the  national  ticket,"  he  wrote  to  Nor- 
man B.  Judd,  "  but  I  am  where  it  would  hurt  some  for  me 
to  not  get  the  Illinois  delegates.  .  .  .  Can  you  help  me 
a  little  in  your  end  of  the  vineyard  ?  " 

The  plans  of  the  Lincoln  men  were  well  matured.  About 
the  first  of  December,  1859,  Medill  had  gone  to  Washing- 
ton, ostensibly  as  a  "  Tribune  "  correspondent,  but  really  to 
promote  Lincoln's  nomination.  "  Before  writing  any  Lin- 
coln letters  for  the  "  Tribune/"  says  Mr.  Medill  in  his 
"  Reminiscences,"  "  I  began  preaching  Lincoln  among  the 
Congressmen.  I  urged  him  chiefly  upon  the  ground  of 
availability  in  the  close  and  doubtful  States,  with  what 
seemed  like  reasonable  success." 

February  16,  1860,  the  "Tribune"  came  out  editorially 
for  Lincoln,  and  Medill  followed  a  few  days  later  with  a 
ringing  letter  from  Washington,  naming  Lincoln  as  a  can- 
didate on  whom  both  conservative  and  radical  sentiment 
could  unite,  and  declaring  that  he  now  heard  Lincoln's  name 
mentioned  for  President  in  Washington  "  ten  times  as  often 
as  it  was  one  month  ago."  About  the  time  when  Medill  was 
writing  thus,  Norman  B.  Judd,  as  member  of  the  Republican 
National  Committee,  was  executing  a  manoeuvre  the  impor- 
tance of  which  no  one  realized  but  the  Illinois  politicians. 
This  was  securing  the  convention  for  Chicago. 

As  the  spring  passed  and  the  counties  of  Illinois  held  their 
conventions,  Lincoln  found  that,  save  in  the  North,  where 
Seward  was  strong,  he  was  unanimously  recommended  as  the 
candidate  at  Chicago.  When  the  State  Convention  met  at 
Decatur,  May  9  and  10,  he  received  an  ovation  of  so 


34o  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

picturesque  and  unique  a  character  that  it  colored  all  the  rest 
of  the  campaign.  The  delegates  were  in  session  when  Lin- 
coln came  in  as  a  spectator  and  was  invited  to  a  seat  on  the 
platform.  Soon  after,  Richard  Oglesby,  one  of  Lincoln's 
ardent  supporters,  asked  that  an  old  Democrat  of  Macon 
County  be  allowed  to  offer  a  contribution  to  the  convention. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  a  curious  banner  was  borne  up 
the  hall.  The  standard  was  made  of  two  weather-worn 
fence-rails,  decorated  with  flags  and  streamers,  and  bearing 
the  inscription : 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

THE  RAIL  CANDIDATE 
FOR  PRESIDENT  IN  1860 

Two  rails  from  a  lot  of  3,000  made  in  1830 
by  Thos.  Hanks  and  Abe  Lincoln  —  whose 
father  was  the  first  pioneer  of  Macon  County. 

A  storm  of  applause  greeted  the  banner,  followed  by  cries 
of  "  Lincoln !  Lincoln !  "  Rising,  Lincoln  said  pointing  to 
the  banner,  "  I  suppose  I  am  expected  to  reply  to  that.  I  can- 
not say  whether  I  made  those  rails  or  not,  but  I  am  quite 
sure  I  have  made  a  great  many  just  as  good/'  The  speech 
was  warmly  applauded,  and  one  delegate,  an  influential  Ger- 
man and  an  ardent  Seward  man,  George  Schneider,  after  wit- 
nessing the  demonstration,  turned  to  his  neighbor  and  said, 
"  Seward  has  lost  the  Illinois  delegation."  He  was  right; 
for  when,  later,  John  M.  Palmer  brought  forth  a  resolution 
that  "  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  choice  of  the  Republican  party 
of  Illinois  for  the  presidency,  and  the  delegates  from  this 
State  are  instructed  to  use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  his 
nomination  by  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  to  vote  as  a 
unit  for  him,"  it  was  enthusiastically  adopted. 

While  the  politicians  of  Illinois  were  thus  preparing  for 
the  campaign,  the  Republicans  of  the  East  hardly  realized 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  34I 

that  Lincoln  was  or  could  be  made  a  possibility.  In  the  first 
four  months  of  1860  his  name  was  almost  unmentioned  as  a 
presidential  candidate  in  the  public  prints  of  the  East.  In 
a  list  of  twenty-one  "  prominent  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dency in  1860,"  prepared  by  D.  W.  Bartlett  and  published 
in  New  York  towards  the  end  of  1859,  Lincoln's  name  is 
not  mentioned ;  nor  does  it  appear  in  a  list  of  thirty- four  of 
"  our  living  representative  men,"  prepared  for  presidential 
purposes  by  John  Savage,  and  published  in  Philadelphia  in 
1860.  The  most  important  notice  at  this  period  of  which  we 
know  was  a  casual  mention  in  an  editorial  in  the  New  York 
"Evening  Post,"  February  15.  The  "Post"  considered 
it  time  for  the  Republicans  to  speak  out  about  the  nominee 
at  the  coming  convention,  and  remarked :  "  With  such  men 
as  Seward  and  Chase,  Banks  and  Lincoln,  and  others  in 
plenty,  let  us  have  two  Republican  representative  men  to 
vote  for/'  This  was  ten  days  before  the  Cooper  Union 
speech  and  the  New  England  tour,  which  undoubtedly  did 
much  to  recommend  Lincoln  as  a  logical  and  statesmanlike 
thinker  and  debater,  though  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  cre- 
ated him  a  presidential  following  in  the  East,  save,  perhaps, 
in  New  Hampshire.  Indeed  it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected 
that  prudent  and  conservative  men  would  conclude  that, 
because  he  could  make  a  good  speech,  he  would  make 
a  good  President.  They  knew  him  to  be  comparatively  un- 
trained in  public  life  and  comparatively  untried  in  large  af- 
fairs. They  naturally  preferred  a  man  who  had  a  record  for 
executive  statesmanship. 

Up  to  the  opening  of  the  convention  in  May  there  was,  in. 
fact,  no  specially  prominent  mention  of  Lincoln  by  the  East- 
ern press.  Greeley,  intent  on  undermining  Seward,  though 
as  yet  nobody  perceived  him  to  be  so,  printed  in  the  New 
York  weekly  "  Tribune" — the  paper  which  went  to  the  coun- 
try at  large — correspondence  favoring  the  nomination  of 


342  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Bates  and  Read,  McLean  and  Bell,  Cameron,  Fremont,  Day- 
ton, Chase,  Wade;  but  not  Lincoln.  The  New  York  "  Her- 
ald "  of  May  i,  in  discussing  editorially  the  nominee  of  the 
"  Black  Republicans/'  recognized  "  four  living,  two  dead, 
aspirants/'  The  "  living  "  were  Seward,  Banks,  Chase,  and 
Cameron;  the  "  dead/'  Bates  and  McLean.  May  10  "  The 
Independent/'  in  an  editorial  on  "  The  Nomination  at  Chi- 
cago," said :  "  Give  us  a  man  known  to  be  true  upon  the  only 
question  that  enters  into  the  canvass — a  Seward,  a  Chase,  a 
Wade,  a  Sumner,  a  Fessenden,  a  Banks."  But  it  did  not 
mention  Lincoln.  His  most  conspicuous  Eastern  recogni- 
tion before  the  convention  was  in  "  Harper's  Weekly  "  of 
May  12,  his  face  being  included  in  a  double  page  of  portraits 
of  "  eleven  prominent  candidates  for  the  Republican  presi- 
dential nomination  at  Chicago."  Brief  biographical  sketches 
appeared  in  the  same  number — the  last  and  the  shortest  of 
them  being  of  Lincoln. 

It  was  on  May  16  that  the  Republican  Convention  of 
1860  formally  opened  at  Chicago,  but  for  days  before  the 
city  was  in  a  tumult  of  expectation  and  preparation.  The 
audacity  of  inviting  a  national  convention  to  meet  there,  in 
the  condition  in  which  Chicago  chanced  to  be  at  that  time, 
was  purely  Chicagoan.  No  other  city  would  have  risked  it. 
In  ten  years  Chicago  had  nearly  quadrupled  its  population, 
and  it  was  believed  that  the  feat  would  be  repeated  in  the 
coming  decade.  In  the  first  flush  of  youthful  energy  and 
ambition  the  town  had  undertaken  the  colossal  task  of  rais- 
ing itself  bodily  out  of  the  grassy  marsh,  where  it  had  been 
originally  placed,  to  a  level  of  twelve  feet  above  Lake  Michi- 
gan, and  of  putting  underneath  a  good,  solid  foundation. 
When  the  invitation  to  the  convention  was  extended,  half 
the  buildings  in  Chicago  were  on  stilts ;  some  of  the  streets 
had  been  raised  to  the  new  grade,  others  still  lay  in  the  mud ; 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  343 

half  the  sidewalks  were  poised  high  on  piles,  and  half  were 
still  down  on  a  level  with  the  lake.  A  city  with  a  conven- 
tional sense  of  decorum  would  not  have  cared  to  be  seen  in 
this  demoralized  condition,  but  Chicago  perhaps  conceived 
that  it  would  but  prove  her  courage  and  confidence  to  show 
the  country  what  she  was  doing;  and  so  she  had  the  conven- 
tion come. 

But  it  was  not  the  convention  alone  which  came.  Besides 
the  delegates,  the  professional  politicians,  the  newspaper 
men,  and  the  friends  of  the  several  candidates,  there  came  a 
motley  crowd  of  .men  hired  to  march  and  to  cheer  for  par- 
ticular candidates, — a  kind  of  out-of-door  claque  which  did 
not  wait  for  a  point  to  be  made  in  favor  of  its  man,  but  went' 
off  in  rounds  of  applause  at  the  mere  mention  of  his  name. 
New  York  brought  the  greatest  number  of  these  professional 
applauders,  the  leader  of  them  being  a  notorious  prize-fighter 
and  street  politician, — "  a  sort  of  white  black-bird,"  says 
Bromley, — one  Tom  Hyer.  With  the  New  York  delega- 
tion, which  numbered  all  told  fully  two  thousand  Seward 
men,  came  Dodworth's  Band,  one  of  the  celebrated  musical 
organizations  of  that  day. 

While  New  York  sent  the  largest  number,  Pennsylvania 
was  not  far  behind,  there  being  about  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred persons  present  from  that  State.  From  New  England, 
long  as  was  the  distance,  there  were  many  trains  of  excur- 
sionists. The  New  England  delegation  took  Gilmore's  Band 
with  it,  and  from  Boston  to  Chicago  stirred  up  every  commu- 
nity in  which  it  stopped,  with  music  and  speeches.  Several 
days  before  the  convention  opened  fully  one-half  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  were  in 
the  city.  To  still  further  increase  the  throng  were  hundreds 
of  merely  curious  spectators  whom  the  flattering  inducements 
of  the  fifteen  railroads  centring  in  Chicago  at  that  time  had 


344 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


tempted  to  take  a  trip.  There  were  fully  forty  thousand 
strangers  in  the  city  during  the  sitting  of  the  convention. 

The  streets  for  a  week  were  the  forum  of  this  multitude. 
Processions  for  Seward,  for  Cameron,  for  Chase,  for  Lin- 
coln, marched  and  counter-marched,  brave  with  banners  and 
transparencies,  and  noisy  with  country  bands  and  hissing 
rockets.  Every  street  corner  became  a  rostrum,  where  im- 
promptu harangues  for  any  of  a  dozen  candidates  might  be 
happened  upon.  In  this  hurly-burly  two  figures  were  particu- 
larly prominent:  Tom  Hyer,  who  managed  the  open-air 
Seward  demonstration,  and  Horace  Greeley,  who  was  con- 
ducting independently  his  campaign  against  Seward.  Gree- 
ley, in  his  fervor,  talked  incessantly.  It  was  only  necessary 
for  some  one  to  say  in  a  rough  but  friendly  way,  "  There's 
old  Greeley/*  and  all  within  hearing  distance  grouped  about 
him.  Not  infrequently  the  two  or  three  to  whom  he  began 
speaking  increased  until  that  which  had  started  as  a  conver- 
sation ended  as  a  speech. 

In  this  half -spontaneous,  half-organized  demonstration  of 
the  streets,  Lincoln's  followers  were  conspicuous.  State 
pride  made  Chicago  feel  that  she  must  stand  by  her  own. 
Lincoln  banners  floated  across  every  street,  and  buildings 
and  omnibuses  were  decorated  with  Lincoln  emblems.  When 
the  Illinois  delegation  saw  that  New  York  and  Pennsylva- 
nia had  brought  in  so  many  outsiders  to  create  enthusiasm 
for  their  respective  candidates,  they  began  to  call  in  sup- 
porters from  the  neighboring  localities.  Leonard  Swett  says 
that  they  succeeded  in  getting  together  fully  ten  thousand 
men  from  Illinois  and  Indiana,  ready  to  march,  shout,  or 
fight  for  Lincoln,  as  the  case  required. 

Not  only  was  the  city  full  of  people  days  before  the  con- 
vention began,  but  the  delegations  had  organized  and  actual 
work  was  in  progress.  Every  device  conceivable  by  an  in- 
genious opposition  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  weaken  Sew- 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  345 

ard,  the  most  formidable  of  the  candidates.  The  night  be- 
fore the  opening  of  the  convention  a  great  mass  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Wigwam.  The  Seward  men  had  arranged  to 
have  only  advocates  of  their  own  candidate  speak.  But  the 
clever  opposition  detected  the  game,  and  William  D.  Kelley 
of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  for  Lincoln  or  for  Wade,  got  the 
floor  and  held  it  until  nearly  midnight,  doggedly  talking 
against  time  until  an  audience  of  twelve  thousand  had 
dwindled  to  less  than  one  thousand. 

One  of  the  first  of  the  delegations  to  begin  activities  was 
that  of  Illinois.  The  Tremont  House  had  been  chosen  as  its 
headquarters,  and  here  were  gathered  almost  all  the  influen- 
tial friends  Lincoln  had  in  the  State.  They  came  determined 
to  win  if  human  effort  could  compass  it,  and  men  never  put 
more  intense  and  persistent  energy  into  a  cause.  Judge  Da- 
vis was  naturally  the  head  of  the  body;  but  Judge  Logan, 
Leonard  Swett,  John  M.  Palmer,  Richard  Oglesby,  N.  B. 
Judd,  Jesse  W.  Fell,  and  a  score  more  were  with  him.  "  We 
worked  like  nailers,"  Governor  Oglesby  often  declared  in 
after  years. 

The  effort  for  Lincoln  had  to  begin  in  the  Illinois  delega- 
tion itself.  In  spite  of  the  rail  episode  at  Decatur,  the  State 
convention  was  by  no  means  unanimous  for  Lincoln.  "  Our 
delegation  was  instructed  for  him/'  wrote  Leonard  Swett 
to  Josiah  Drummond,*  "  but  of  the  twenty-two  votes  in  it, 
by  incautiously  selecting  the  men,  there  were  eight  who 
would  have  gladly  gone  for  Seward.  The  reason  of  this  is 
in  this  fact:  the  northern  counties  of  this  State  are  more 
overwhelmingly  Republican  than  any  other  portion  of  the 
continent.  I  could  pick  twenty-five  contiguous  counties  giv- 
ing larger  Republican  majorities  than  any  other  adjacent 

*This  letter,  written  by  Mr.  Swett  on  May  27,  1860,  to  Josiah  Drum- 
mond of  Maine,  is  one  of  the  best  documents  on  the  convention.  It 
was  published  in  the  New  York  "  Sun  "  of  July  26,  1891,  and  is  printed 
in  O.  H.  OWroyd's  "Lincoln's  Campaign.  ' 


34$  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

counties  in  any  State.  The  result  is,  many  people  there  are 
for  Seward,  and  such  men  had  crept  upon  the  delegation. 
They  intended  in  good  faith  to  go  for  Lincoln,  but  talked 
despondingly,  and  really  wanted  and  expected  finally  to  vote 
as  I  have  indicated.  We  had  also  in  the  North  and  about 
Chicago  a  class  of  men  who  always  want  to  turn  up  on  the 
winning  side,  and  who  would  do  no  work,  although  their 
feelings  were  really  for  us,  for  fear  it  would  be  the  losing 
element  and  would  place  them  out  of  favor  with  the  incom- 
ing power.  These  men  were  dead  weights.  The  centre  and 
South,  with  many  individual  exceptions  to  the  classes  I  have 
lamed,  were  warmly  for  Lincoln,  whether  he  won  or  lost. 

"  The  lawyers  of  our  circuit  went  there  determined  to 
leave  no  stone  unturned;  and  really  they,  aided  by  some  of 
our  State  officers  and  a  half  dozen  men  from  various  por- 
tions of  the  State,  were  the  only  tireless,  sleepless,  unwaver- 
ing, and  ever  vigilant  friends  he  had." 

The  situation  which  the  Illinois  delegation  faced,  briefly 
put,  was  this:  the  Republican  party  had  in  1860  but  one 
prominent  candidate,  William  H.  Seward.  By  virtue  of  his 
great  talents,  his  superior  cultivation,  and  his  splendid  serv- 
ices in  anti-slavery  agitation,  he  was  the  choice  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Republican  party.  It  was  certain  that  at  the 
opening  of  the  convention  he  would  have  nearly  enough 
votes  to  nominate  him.  But  still  there  was  a  considerable 
and  resolute  opposition.  The  grounds  of  this  were  several, 
but  the  most  substantial  and  convincing  was  that  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey  all  declared  that 
they  could  not  elect  Seward  if  he  was  nominated.  Andrew 
G.  Curtin  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Henry  S.  Lane  of  Indiana, 
candidates  for  governor  in  their  respective  States,  were  both 
his  active  opponents,  not  from  dislike  of  him,  but  because 
they  were  convinced  that  they  would  themselves  be  defeated 
if  he  headed  the  Republican  ticket.  It  was  clear  to  the  en- 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  347 

tire  party  that  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana  were  essential  to 
Republican  success ;  and  since  many  States  with  which  Sew- 
ard  was  the  first  choice  held  success  in  November  as  more 
important  than  Seward,  they  were  willing  to  give  their  sup- 
port to  an  "  available  "  man.  But  the  difficulty  was  to  unite 
this  opposition.  Nearly  every  State  which  considered  Sew- 
ard an  unsafe  candidate  had  a  "  favorite  son  "  whom  it  was 
pushing  as  "available."  Pennsylvania  wanted  Cameron; 
New  Jersey,  Dayton;  Ohio,  Chase,  McLean,  or  Wade;  Mas- 
sachusetts, Banks;  Vermont,  Collamer.  Greeley,  who  alone 
was  as  influential  as  a  State  delegation,  urged  Bates  of  Mis- 
souri. 

Illinois's  task  was  to  unite  this  opposition  on  Lincoln. 
She  began  her  work  with  a  next-door  neighbor.  "  The  first 
State  approached,"  says  Mr.  Swett,  "  was  Indiana.  She 
was  about  equally  divided  between  Bates  and  McLean.* 
Saturday,  Sunday,  and  Monday  were  spent  upon  her,  when 
finally  she  came  to  us,  unitedly,  with  twenty-six  votes,  and 
from  that  time  acted  efficiently  with  us." 

With  Indiana  to  aid  her,  Illinois  now  succeeded  in  draw- 
ing a  few  scattering  votes,  in  making  an  impression  on  New 
Hampshire  and  Virginia,  and  in  persuading  Vermont  to 
think  of  Lincoln  as  a  second  choice.  Matters  began  to  look 
decidedly  cheerful.  May  14  (Monday)  the  New  York 
"  Herald's  "  last  despatch  declared  that  the  contest  had  nar- 
rowed down  to  Seward,  Lincoln,  and  Wade.  The  Boston 
"  Herald's  "  despatch  of  the  same  day  reported ;  "  Abe  Lin- 
coln is  booming  up  to-night  as  a  compromise  candidate,  and 
his  friends  are  in  high  spirits."  And  this  was  the  situation 
when  the  convention  finally  opened  on  Wednesday,  May  16. 

The  assembly-room  in  which  the  convention  met  was  situ- 


*  Mr.  Joseph  Medill  once  told  the  writer  that  half  the  Indiana  dele- 
gation had  been  won  for  Lincoln  on  the  ground  of  availability  before 
the  convention  met. 


348 


LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 


ated  conveniently  at  the  corner  of  Market  and  Lake  Streets. 
It  had  been  built  especially  for  the  occasion  by  the  Chicago 
Republican  Club,  and  in  the  fashion  of  the  West  in  that  day 
was  called  by  the  indigenous  name  of  Wigwam.  It  was  a 
low,  characterless  structure,  fully  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  long  by  one  hundred  feet  wide.  The  roof  rose  in  the 
segment  of  a  circle,  so  that  one  side  was  higher  than 
the  other;  and  across  this  side  and  the  two  ends  were 
deep  galleries.  Facing  the  ungalleried  side  was  a  plat- 
form reserved  for  the  delegates  —  a  great  floor  one  hundred 
and  forty  feet  long  and  thirty-five  feet  deep,  raised  some  four 
feet  from  the  ground  level,  with  committee-rooms  at  each 
end.  This  vast  structure  of  pine  boards  had  been  rescued 
from  ugliness  through  the  energetic  efforts  of  the  commit- 
tee, assisted  by  the  Republican  women  of  the  city,  who, 
scarcely  less  interested  than  their  husbands  and  brothers, 
strove  in  every  way  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  the  con- 
vention. They  wreathed  the  pillars  and  the  galleries  with 

masses  of  green;  hung 
banners  and  flags  ; 
brought  in  busts  of  Amer- 
ican notables  ;  ordered 
great  allegorical  paintings 
of  Justice,  Liberty,  and 
the  like,  to  suspend  on  the 
walls  ;  borrowed  the 
whole  series  of  Healy  por- 
traits of  American  states- 
men—in short,  made  the 
Wigwam  at  least  gay  and 
festive  in  aspect.  Foreign 
it  ™  the  first  chair  made  in  the  state  of  interest  added  something 

Michigan.-Reproduced  from  "  Harper's      to    fae      f  urnishineS  :      the 

Weekly"  of  May  19,  1860,  by  permission 

Of  Messrs.  Harper  and  Brothers.  chair    placed    On    the    plat- 


CHAIR  OCCUPIED  BY  THE  CHAIRMAN  OF 
NATIONAL  CONVEN- 


NOMINATION  IN  1860 


349 


form  for  the  use  of  the  chairman  of  the  convention  was  do- 
nated by  Michigan,  as  the  first  chair  made  in  that  State. 
It  was  an  arm-chair  of  the  most  primitive  description,  the 
seat  dug  out  of  an  immense  log  and  mounted  on  large  rock- 
ers. Another  chair,  one  made  for  the  occasion,  attracted  a 
great  deal  of  attention.  It  was  constructed  of  thirty-four 
kinds  of  wood,  each  piece  from  a  different  State  or  Terri- 
tory, Kansas  being  appropriately  represented  by  the  "weep- 
ing willow"  a  symbol  of  her  grief  at  being  still  excluded 
from  the  sisterhood  of  States.  The  gavel  used  by  the  chair- 
man was  more  interesting  even  than  his  chair,  having  been 
made  from  a  fragment  of  Commodore  Perry's  brave  Law- 
rence. 

Into  the  Wigwam,  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  of  May, 
there  crowded  fully  ten  thousand  persons.  To  the  spectator 
in  the  gallery  the  scene  was  vividly  picturesque  and  animated. 
Around  him  were  packed  hundreds  of  women,  gay  in  the 
high-peaked,  flower-filled  bonnets  and  the  bright  shawls  and 
plaids  of  the  day.  Below,  on  the  platform  and  floor,  were 
many  of  the  notable  men  of  the  United  States — William  M. 
Evarts,  Thomas  Corwin,  Carl  Schurz,  David  Wilmot,  Thad- 
deus  Stevens,  Joshua  Giddings,  George  William  Curtis, 
Francis  P.  Blair  and  his  two  sons,  Andrew  H.  Reeder, 
George  Ashmun,  Gideon  Welles,  Preston  King,  Cassius  M. 
Clay,  Gratz  Brown,  George  S.  Boutwell,  Thurlow  Weed. 
In  the  multitude  the  newspaper  representatives  outnumbered 
the  delegates.  Fully  nine  hundred  editors  and  reporters 
were  present,  a  body  scarcely  less  interesting  than  the  con- 
vention itself.  Horace  Greeley,  Samuel  Bowles,  Murat  Hal- 
stead,  Isaac  H.  Bromley,  Joseph  Medill,  Horace  White,  Jo- 
seph Hawley,  Henry  Villard,  A.  K.  McClure,  names  so  fa- 
miliar to-day,  all  represented  various  journals  at  Chicago 
m  1860,  and  in  some  cases  were  active  workers  in  the  cau- 
tuses.  It  was  evident  at  once  that  the  members  of  the  con* 


350  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

vention — some  five  hundred  out  of  the  attendant  ten  thousand 
— were  not  more  interested  in  its  proceedings  than  the  spec- 
tators, whose  approval  and'  disapproval,  quickly  and  em- 
phatically expressed,  swayed,  and  to  a  degree  controlled,  the 
delegates.  Wednesday  and  Thursday  mornings  were  passed 
in  the  usual  opening  work  of  a  convention.  While  officers 
were  formally  elected  and  a  platform  adopted,  the  real  in- 
terest centred  in  the  caucuses,  which  were  held  almost  unin- 
terruptedly. Illinois  was  in  a  frenzy  of  anxiety.  "  No  men 
ever  worked  as  our  boys  did,"  wrote  Mr.  Swett ;  "  I  did  not, 
the  whole  week,  sleep  two  hours  a  night."  They  ran  from 
delegation  to  delegation,  haranguing,  pleading,  promising. 
But  do  their  best  they  could  not  concentrate  the  opposition. 
"  Our  great  struggle,"  says  Senator  Palmer,  "  was  to  pre- 
vent Lincoln's  nomination  for  the  vice-presidency.  The 
Seward  men  were  perfectly  willing  that  he  should  go  on  the 
tail  of  the  ticket.  In  fact,  they  seemed  determined  that  he 
should  be  given  the  vice-presidential  nomination.  We  were 
not  troubled  so  much  by  the  antagonism  of  the  Seward  men 
as  by  the  overtures  they  were  constantly  making  to  us.  They 
literally  overwhelmed  us  with  kindness.  Judge  David  Davis 
came  to  me  in  the  Tremont  House,  greatly  agitated  at  the 
way  things  were  going.  He  said :  '  Palmer,  you  must  go 
with  me  at  once  to  see  the  New  Jersey  delegation.'  I  asked 
what  I  could  do.  *  Well/  said  he,  '  there  is  a  grave  and 
venerable  judge  over  there  who  is  insisting  that  Lincoln 
shall  be  nominated  for  Vice-President  and  Seward  for 
President.  We  must  convince  the  judge  of  his  mistake.' 
We  went;  I  was  introduced  to  the  gentleman,  and  we 
talked  about  the  matter  for  some  time.  He  praised  Sew- 
ard, but  he  was  especially  effusive  in  expressing  his  ad- 
miration for  Lincoln.  He  thought  that  Seward  was  clearly 
entitled  to  first  place  and  that  Lincoln's  eminent  merits 
entitled  him  to  second  place.  I  listened  for  some  time, 


NOMINATION  IN  1860 


351 


and  then  said :  *  Sir,  you  may  nominate  Mr.  Lincoln 
for  Vice-President  if  you  please.  But  I  want  you  to 
understand  that  there  are  40,000  Democrats  in  Illinois  who 
will  support  this  ticket  if  you  give  them  an  opportunity.  We 
are  not  Whigs,  and  we  never  expect  to  be  Whigs.  We  will 
never  consent  to  support  two  old  Whigs  on  this  ticket.  We 
are  willing  to  vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln  with  a  Democrat  on  the 
ticket,  but  we  will  not  consent  to  vote  for  two  Whigs/  I 
have  seldom  seen  a  more  indignant  man.  Turning  to  Judge 
Davis  he  said :  '  Judge  Davis,  is  it  possible  that  party  spirit 
so  prevails  in  Illinois  that  Judge  Palmer  properly  represents 
public  opinion  ?  '  '  Oh/  said  Davis,  affecting  some  distress 
at  what  I  had  said,  '  oh,  Judge,  you  can't  account  for  the 
conduct  of  these  old  Locofocos/  l  Will  they  do  as  Palmer 
says  ? '  '  Certainly.  There  are  40,000  of  them,  and,  as 
Palmer  says,  not  one  of  them  will  vote  for  two  Whigs/  We 
left  the  New  Jersey  member  in  a  towering  rage.  When 
we  were  back  at  the  Tremont  House  I  said :  '  Davis,  you 
are  an  infernal  rascal  to  sit  there  and  hear  that  man  be- 
rate me  as  he  did.  You  really  seemed  to  encourage  him/ 
Judge  Davis  said  nothing,  but  chuckled  as  if  he  had  greatly 
enjoyed  the  joke.  This  incident  is  illustrative  of  the  kind 
of  work  we  had  to  do.  We  were  compelled  to  resort  to  this 
argument — that  the  old  Democrats  then  ready  to  affiliate 
with  the  Republican  party  would  not  tolerate  two  Whigs  on 
the  ticket — in  order  to  break  up  the  movement  to  nominate 
-Lincoln  for  Vice-President.  The  Seward  men  recognized 
in  Lincoln  their  most  formidable  rival,  and  that  was  why 
they  wished  to  get  him  out  of  the  way  by  giving  him  second 
place  on  the  ticket." 

The  uncertainty  on  Thursday  was  harrowing,  and  if  the 
ballot  had  been  taken  on  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  as  was  at 
first  intended,  Seward  probably  would  have  been  nominated. 
Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Pennsylvania  all  felt  this,  and  shrewdly 


352  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

managed  to  secure  from  the  convention  a  reluctant  adjourn- 
ment until  Friday  morning.  In  spite  of  the  time  this  ma- 
noeuvre gave,  however,  Seward's  nomination  seemed  sure; 
so  Greeley  telegraphed  the  "Tribune"  at  midnight  on  Thurs- 
day. At  the  same  hour  the  correspondent  of  the  "  Herald  " 
(New  York)  telegraphed:  "The  friends  of  Seward  are 
firm,  and  claim  ninety  votes  for  him  on  the  first  ballot.  Op- 
position to  Seward  not  fixed  on  any  man.  Lincoln  is  the 
strongest,  and  may  have  altogether  forty  votes.  The  various 
delegations  are  still  caucusing." 

It  was  after  these  messages  were  sent  that  Illinois  and  In- 
diana summoned  all  their  energies  for  a  final  desperate  effort 
to  unite  the  uncertain  delegates  on  Lincoln,  and  that  Penn- 
sylvania went  through  the  last  violent  throes  of  coming  to  a 
decision.  The  night  was  one  of  dramatic  episodes  of 
which  none,  perhaps,  was  more  nearly  tragic  than  the  spec- 
tacle of  Seward's  followers,  confident  of  success,  celebrating 
in  advance  the  nomination  of  their  favorite,  while  scores  of 
determined  men  laid  the  plans  ultimately  effective,  for  his 
overthrow.  All  night  the  work  was  kept  up.  "  Hundreds 
of  Pennsylvanians,  Indianians,  and  Illinoisans,"  says  Murat 
Halstead,  "  never  closed  their  eyes.  I  saw  Henry  S.  Lane 
at  one  o'clock,  pale  and  haggard,  with  cane  under  his  arm, 
walking  as  if  for  a  wager  from  one  caucus-room  to  another 
at  the  Tremont  House.  In  connection  with  them  he  had  been 
operating  to  bring  the  Vermonters  and  Virginians  to  the 
point  of  deserting  Seward." 

In  the  Pennsylvania  delegation,  which  on  Wednesday  had 
agreed  on  McLean  as  its  second  choice  and  Lincoln  as  its  third, 
a  hot  struggle  was  waged  to  secure  the  vote  of  the  delegation 
as  a  unit  for  Cameron  until  a  majority  of  the  delegates  di- 
rected otherwise.  Judge  S.  Newton  Pettis,  who  proposed 
this  resolution,  worked  all  night  to  secure  votes  for  it  at  the 
caucus  to  be  held  early  in  the  morning.  The  Illinois  men 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  353 

ran  from  delegate  to  caucus,  from  editor  to  outsider.  No 
man  who  knew  Lincoln  and  believed  in  him,  indeed,  was  al- 
lowed to  rest,  but  was  dragged  away  to  this  or  that  delegate 
to  persuade  him  that  the  "  rail  candidate/'  as  Lincoln  had 
already  begun  to  be  called,  was  fit  for  the  place.  Colonel 
Hoyt,  then  a  resident  of  Chicago,  spent  half  the  night  telling 
Thaddeus  Stevens  of  Pennsylvania  what  he  knew  of  Lin- 
coln. While  all  this  was  going  on,  a  committee  of  twelve  men 
from  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Iowa  were  consulting  in  the  upper  story  of  the  Tremont 
House.  Before  their  session  was  over  they  had  agreed  that 
in  case  Lincoln's  votes  reached  a  specified  number  on  the 
following  day,  the  votes  of  the  States  represented  in  that 
meeting,  so  far  as  these  twelve  men  could  effect  the  result, 
should  be  given  to  him. 

The  night  was  over  at  last,  and  at  ten  o'clock  the  conven- 
tion reassembled.  The  great  Wigwam  was  packed  with  a 
throng  hardly  less  excited  than  the  members  of  the  actual 
convention,  while  without,  for  blocks  away,  a  crowd  double 
that  within  pushed  and  strained,  every  nerve  alert  to  catch 
the  movements  of  the  convention. 

The  nominations  began  at  once,  the  Hon.  William  M. 
Evarts  presenting  the  name  of  William  H.  Seward.  The 
New  Yorkers  had  prepared  a  tremendous  claque,  which  now 
broke  forth — "  a  deafening  shout  which,"  says  Leonard 
Swett,  "  I  confess,  appalled  us  a  little."  But  New  York  in 
preparing  her  claque  had  only  given  an  idea  to  Illinois.  The 
Illinois  committee,  to  offset  it,  had  made  secret  but  complete 
preparations  for  what  was  called  a  "  spontaneous  demonstra- 
tion." From  lake  front  to  prairie  the  committee  had  col- 
lected every  stentorian  voice  known,  and  early  Friday 
morning,  while  Seward's  men  were  marching  exultantly 
about  the  streets,  the  owners  of  these  voices  had  been  packed 
into  the  Wigwam,  where  their  special  endowment  would  be 


354  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

most  effective.  The  women  present  had  been  requested  to 
wave  their  handkerchiefs  at  every  mention  of  Lincoln's 
name,  and  hundreds  of  flags  had  been  distributed  to  be  used 
in  the  same  way.  A  series  of  signals  had  been  arranged  to 
communicate  to  the  thousands  without  the  moment  when  a 
roar  from  them  might  influence  the  convention  within. 
When  N.  B.  Judd  nominated  Lincoln  this  machinery  began 
to  work.  It  did  well;  but  a  moment  later,  in  greeting  the 
seconding  of  Seward's  nomination,  New  York  out-bellowed 
Illinois.  "  Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana  then  seconded  the 
nomination  of  Lincoln,"  says  Mr.  Swett,  "  and  the  West 
came  to  his  rescue.  No  mortal  ever  before  saw  such  a  scene. 
The  idea  of  us  Hoosiers  and  Suckers  being  outscreamed 
would  have  been  as  bad  to  them  as  the  loss  of  their  man. 
Five  thousand  people  at  once  leaped  to  their  seats,  women 
not  wanting  in  the  number,  and  the  wild  yell  made  soft 
vesper  breathings  of  all  that  had  preceded.  No  language 
can  describe  it.  A  thousand  steam  whistles,  ten  acres  of 
hotel  gongs,  a  tribe  of  Comanches,  headed  by  a  choice  van- 
guard from  pandemonium,  might  have  mingled  in  the  scene 
unnoticed." 

As  the  roar  died  out  a  voice  cried,  "Abe  Lincoln  has  it  by 
the  sound  now ;  let  us  ballot ! "  and  Judge  Logan,  beside 
himself  with  screeching  and  excitement,  called  out :  "  Mr. 
President,  in  order  or  out  of  order,  I  propose  this  convention 
and  audience  give  three  cheers  for  the  man  who  is  evidently 
their  nominee." 

The  balloting  followed  without  delay.  The  Illinois  men 
believed  they  had  one  hundred  votes  to  start  with;  on 
counting  they  found  they  had  102.  More  hopeful  still,  no 
other  opposition  candidate  approached  them.  Pennsyl- 
vania's man,  according  to  the  printed  reports  of  that  day, 
had  but  fifty  and  one-half  votes ;  Greeley's  man,  forty-eight ; 
Chase,  forty-nine;  while  McLean*  Pennsylvania's  second 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  355 

choice,  had  but  twelve.  If  Seward  was  to  be  beaten,  it  must 
be  now ;  and  it  was  for  Pennsylvania  to  say.  The  delega- 
tion hurried  to  a  committee-room,  where  Judge  Pettis,  dis- 
regarding the  action  of  the  caucus  by  which  McLean  had 
been  adopted  as  the  delegation's  second  choice,  moved  that, 
on  the  second  ballot,  Pennsylvania's  vote  be  cast  solidly  for 
Lincoln.  The  motion  was  carried.  Returning  to  the  hall 
the  delegation  found  the  second  ballot  under  way.  In  a 
moment  the  name  of  Pennsylvania  was  called.  The  whole 
Wigwam  heard  the  answer :  "  Pennsylvania  casts  her  fifty- 
two  votes  for  Abraham  Lincoln."  The  meaning  was  clear. 
The  break  to  Lincoln  had  begun.  New  York  sat  as  if 
stupefied,  while  all  over  the  hall  cheer  followed  cheer. 

It  seemed  but  a  moment  before  the  second  ballot  was 
ended,  and  it  was  known  that  Lincoln's  vote  had  risen  from 
1 02  to  181.  The  tension  as  the  third  ballot  was  taken  was 
almost  unbearable.  A  hundred  pencils  kept  score  while  the 
delegations  were  called,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that 
Lincoln  was  outstripping  Seward.  The  last  vote  was  hardly 
given  before  the  whisper  went  around,  "  Two  hundred  and 
thirty-one  and  one-half  for  Lincoln ;  two  and  one-half  more 
will  give  him  the  nomination."  An  instant  of  silence  fol- 
lowed, in  which  the  convention  grappled  with  the  idea,  and 
tried  to  pull  itself  together  to  act.  The  chairman  of  the 
Ohio  delegation  was  the  first  to  get  his  breath.  "  Mr.  Presi- 
dent," he  cried,  springing  on  his  chair  and  stretching  out 
his  arm  to  secure  recognition,  "  I  rise  to  change  four  votes 
from  Mr.  Chase  to  Mr.  Lincoln." 

It  took  a  moment  to  realize  the  truth.  New  York  saw  it, 
and  the  white  faces  of  her  noble  delegation  were  bowed  in 
despair.  Greeley  saw  it,  and  a  guileless  smile  spread  over 
his  features  as  he  watched  Thurlow  Weed  press  his  hand 
hard  against  his  wet  eyelids.  Illinois  saw  it,  and  tears 
poured  from  the  eyes  of  more  than  one  of  the  overwrought, 


356  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

devoted  men  as  they  grasped  one  another's  hands  and  vainly 
struggled  against  the  sobs  which  kept  back  their  shouts. 
The  crowd  saw  it,  and  broke  out  in  a  mad  hurrah.  "  The 
scene  which  followed,"  wrote  one  spectator,  "baffles  all 
human  description.  After  an  instant's  silence,  as  deep  as 
death,  which  seemed  to  be  required  to  enable  the  assembly  to 
take  in  the  full  force  of  the  announcement,  the  wildest  and 
mightiest  yell  (for  it  can  be  called  by  no  other  name)  burst 
forth  from  ten  thousand  voices  which  we  ever  heard  from 
mortal  throats.  This  strange  and  tremendous  demonstra- 
tion, accompanied  with  leaping  up  and  down,  tossing  hats, 
handkerchiefs,  and  canes  recklessly  into  the  air,  with  the 
waving  of  flags,  and  with  every  other  conceivable  mode  of 
exultant  and  unbridled  joy,  continued  steadily  and  without 
pause  for  perhaps  ten  minutes. 

"  It  then  began  to  rise  and  fall  in  slow  and  billowing 
bursts,  and  for  perhaps  the  next  five  minutes  these  stupen- 
dous waves  of  uncontrollable  excitement,  now  rising  into  the 
deepest  and  fiercest  shouts,  and  then  sinking  like  the  ground 
swell  of  the  ocean  into  hoarse  and  lessening  murmurs,  rolled 
through  the  multitude.  Every  now  and  then  it  would  seem 
as  though  the  physical  power  of  the  assembly  was  exhausted 
and  that  quiet  would  be  restored,  when  all  at  once  a  new 
hurricane  would  break  out,  more  prolonged  and  terrific  than 
anything  before.  If  sheer  exhaustion  had  not  prevented,  we 
don't  know  but  the  applause  would  have  continued  to  this 
hour/' 

Without,  the  scene  was  repeated.  At  the  first  instant  of 
realization  in  the  Wigwam  a  man  on  the  platform  had 
shouted  to  a  man  stationed  on  the  roof,  "  Hallelujah;  Abe 
Lincoln  is  nominated ! "  A  cannon  boomed  the  news  to 
the  multitude  below,  and  twenty  thousand  throats  took 
up  the  cry.  The  city  heard  it,  and  one  hundred  guns  on 
the  Tremont  Housez  innumerable  whistles  on  the  river  and 


NOMINATION  IN  1860  357 

lake  front,  on  locomotives  and  factories,  and  the  bells  in 
all  the  steeples,  broke  forth.  For  twenty-four  hours  the 
clamor  never  ceased.  It  spread  to  the  prairies,  and 
before  morning  they  were  afire  with  pride  and  excite- 
ment. 

And  while  all  this  went  on,  where  was  Lincoln?  Too 
much  of  a  candidate,  as  he  had  told  Swett,  to  go  to  Chicago, 
yet  hardly  enough  of  one  to  stay  away,  he  had  ended  by  re- 
maining in  Springfield,  where  he  spent  the  week  in  restless 
waiting  and  discussion.  He  drifted  about  the  public  square, 
went  often  to  the  telegraph  office,  looked  out  for  every 
returning  visitor  from  Chicago,  played  occasional  games  of 
ball,  made  fruitless  efforts  to  read,  went  home  at  unusual 
hours.  He  felt  in  his  bones  that  he  had  a  fighting  chance,  so 
he  told  a  friend,  but  the  chance  was  not  so  strong  that  he 
could  indulge  in  much  exultation.  By  Friday  morning  he 
was  tired  and  depressed,  but  still  eager  for  news.  One  of 
his  friends,  the  Hon.  James  C.  Conkling,  returned  early  in 
the  day  from  Chicago,  and  Lincoln  soon  went  around  to  his 
law  office.  "  Upon  entering,"  says  Mr.  Conkling,  "  Lincoln 
threw  himself  upon  the  office  lounge,  and  remarked  rather 
wearily,  '  Well,  I  guess  I'll  go  back  to  practising  law.1  As 
he  lay  there  on  the  lounge,  I  gave  him  such  information  as 
I  had  been  able  to  obtain.  I  told  him  the  tendency  was  to 
drop  Seward ;  that  the  outlook  for  him  was  very  encourag- 
ing. He  listened  attentively,  and  thanked  me,  saying  I  had 
given  him  a  clearer  idea  of  the  situation  than  he  had  been  able 
to  get  from  any  other  source.  He  was  not  very  sanguine  of 
the  result.  He  did  not  express  the  opinion  that  he  would  be 
nominated." 

But  he  could  not  be  quiet,  and  soon  left  Mr.  Conkling,  to 
join  the  throng  around  the  telegraph  office,  where  the  reports 
from  the  convention  were  coming  in.  The  nominations 
being  reported,  his  own  among  the  others.  Then  newf 


358  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

came  that  the  balloting  had  begun.  He  could  not  endure  to 
wait  for  the  result.  He  remembered  a  commission  his  wife 
had  given  him  that  morning,  and  started  across  the  square  to 
execute  it.  His  errand  was  done,  and  he  was  standing  in  the 
door  of  the  shop,  talking,  when  a  shout  went  up  from  the 
group  at  the  telegraph  office.  The  next  instant  an  excited 
boy  came  rushing  pell-mell  down  the  stairs  of  the  office,  and, 
plunging  through  the  crowd,  ran  across  the  square,  shouting, 
"  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  are  nominated !  "  The  cry 
was  repeated  on  all  sides.  The  people  came  flocking  about 
him,  half  laughing,  half  crying,  shaking  his  hand  when  they 
could  get  it,  and  one  another's  when  they  could  not.  For  a 
few  minutes,  carried  away  by  excitement,  Lincoln  seemed 
simply  one  of  the  proud  and  exultant  crowd.  Then  remem- 
bering what  it  all  meant,  he  said,  "  My  friends,  I  am  glad  to 
receive  your  congratulations,  and  as  there  is  a  little  woman 
down  on  Eighth  street  who  will  be  glad  to  hear  the  news,  you 
must  excuse  me  until  I  inform  her/'  He  slipped  away, 
telegram  in  hand,  his  coat-tails  flying  out  behind,  and  strode 
towards  home,  only  to  find  when  he  reached  there  that  his 
friends  were  before  him,  and  that  the  "  little  woman  "  al- 
ready knew  that  the  honor  which  for  twenty  years  and  more 
she  had  believed  and  stoutly  declared  her  husband  deserved, 
and  which  a  great  multitude  of  men  had  sworn  to  do  their 
best  to  obtain  for  him,  at  last  had  come. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  i860. 

THIRTY-SIX  hours  after  Lincoln  received  the  news  of 
his  nomination,  an  evening  train  from  Chicago  brought 
to  Springfield  a  company  of  distinguished-looking  strangers. 
As  they  stepped  from  their  coach  cannon  were  fired,  rockets 
set  off,  bands  played,  and  enthusiastic  cheering  went  up  from 
a  crowd  of  waiting  people.  A  long  and  noisy  procession  ac- 
companied them  to  their  hotel  and  later  to  a  modest  two- 
storied  house  in  an  unfashionable  part  of  the  town.  The 
gentlemen  whom  the  citizens  of  Springfield  received  with 
such  demonstration  formed  the  committee,  sent  by  the  Re- 
publican National  Convention  to  notify  Abraham  Lincoln 
that  he  had  been  nominated  as  its  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States. 

The  delegation  had  in  its  number  some  of  the  most  distin- 
guished workers  of  the  Republican  party  of  that  day : — Mr. 
George  Ashmun,  Samuel  Bowles,  and  Governor  Boutwell 
of  Massachusetts,  William  M.  Evarts  of  New  York,  Judge 
Kelley  of  Pennsylvania,  David  K.  Carter  of  Ohio,  Francis  P. 
Blair  of  Missouri,  the  Hon.  Gideon  Welles  of  Connecticut, 
Amos  Tuck  of  New  Hampshire,  Carl  Schurz  of  Wisconsin. 
Only  a  few  of  these  gentlemen  had  ever  seen  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  to  many  of  them  his  nomination  had  been  a  bitter  dis- 
appointment. 

As  the  committee  filed  into  Mr.  Lincoln's  simple  home 
there  was  a  sore  misgiving  in  more  than  one  heart,  and  as 
Mr.  Ashmun,  their  chairman,  presented  to  him  the  letter  no- 
tifying him  of  his  nomination  they  eyed  their  candidate  with 

359 


360  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

critical  keenness.  They  noted  his  great  height;  his  huge 
hands  and  feet ;  his  peculiar  lankness  of  limb.  His  shoulders 
drooped  as  he  stood,  giving  his  form  a  look  of  irresolution. 
His  smooth  shaven  face  seemed  of  bronze  as  he  listened  to 
their  message  and  amazed  them  by  its  ruggedness.  The 
cheeks  were  sunken,  the  cheek  bones  high,  the  nose  large, 
the  mouth  unsymmetrical,  the  under  lip  protruding  a  little. 
Irregular  seams  and  lines  cut  and  creased  the  skin  in  every 
direction.  The  eyes  downcast  as  he  listened  were  sunken 
and  somber.  Shaded  by  its  mass  of  dark  hair,  the  face  gave 
an  impression  of  a  sad  impenetrable  man. 

Mr.  Ashmun  finished  his  speech  and  Mr.  Lincoln  lifting 
his  bent  head  began  to  reply.  The  men  who  watched  him 
thrilled  with  surprise  at  the  change  which  passed  over  him. 
His  drooping  form  became  erect  and  firm.  The  eyes  beamed 
with  fire  and  intelligence.  Strong,  dignified  and  self-pos- 
sessed, he  seemed  transformed  by  the  simple  act  of  self-ex- 
pression. 

His  remarks  were  brief,  merely  a  word  of  thanks  for  the 
honor  done  him,  a  hint  that  he  felt  the  responsibility  of  his 
position,  a  promise  to  respond  formally  in  writing  and  the 
expression  of  a  desire  to  take  each  one  of  the  committee  by 
hand,  but  his  voice  was  calm  and  clear,  his  bearing  frank 
and  sure.  His  auditors  saw  in  a  flash  that  here  was  a  man 
who  was  master  of  himself.  For  the  first  time  they  under- 
stood that  he  whom  they  had  supposed  to  be  little  more  than 
a  loquacious  and  clever  State  politician,  had  force,  insight, 
conscience,  that  their  misgivings  were  vain.  "  Why,  sir,  they 
told  me  he  was  a  rough  diamond,'*  said  Governor  Bout  well 
to  one  of  Lincoln's  townsmen,  "  nothing  could  have  been  in 
better  taste  than  that  speech."  And  a  delegate  who  had 
voted  against  Lincoln  in  the  convention,  turning  to  Carl 
Schurz,  said,  "  Sir,  we  might  have  done  a  more  daring  thing, 
but  we  certainly  could  not  have  done  a  better  thing,"  and  it 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  361 

was  with  that  feeling  that  the  delegation,  two  hours  later, 
left  Mr.  Lincoln's  home,  and  it  was  that  report  they  carried 
to  their  constituents. 

But  one  more  formality  now  remained  to  complete  the 
ceremony  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  nomination  to  the  presi- 
dency,— his  letter  of  acceptance.  This  was  soon  written. 
The  candidates  of  the  opposing  parties  all  sent  out  letters  of 
acceptance  in  1860  which  were  almost  political  platforms  in 
themselves.  Lincoln  decided  to  make  his  merely  an  accept- 
ance with  an  expression  of  his  intention  to  stand  by  the 
party's  declaration  of  principles.  He  held  himself  rigidly 
to  this  decision,  his  first  address  to  the  Republican  party  be- 
ing scarcely  one  hundred  and  fifty  words  in  length.  Though 
so  short,  it  was  prepared  with  painstaking  attention.  He 
even  carried  it  when  it  was  finished  to  a  Springfield  friend, 
Dr.  Newton  Bateman,  the  State  Superintendent  of  Educa- 
tion, for  correction. 

"  Mr.  Schoolmaster,"  he  said,  "  here  is  my  letter  of  ac- 
ceptance, I  am  not  very  strong  on  grammar  and  I  wish  you 
to  see  if  it  is  all  right.  I  wouldn't  like  to  have  any  mis- 
takes in  it." 

The  doctor  took  the  MS.  and  after  reading  it,  said : 

"  There  is  only  one  change  I  should  suggest,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
you  have  written  '  It  shall  be  my  care  to  not  violate  or  disre- 
gard it  in  any  part/  you  should  have  written  '  not  to  violate.' 
Never  split  an  infinitive,  is  the  rule." 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  the  manuscript,  regarding  it  a  moment 
with  a  puzzled  air,  "  So  you  think  I  better  put  those  two  lit- 
tle fellows  end  to  end,  do  you  ?  "  he  said  as  he  made  the 
change. 

His  nomination  an  accomplished  fact,  the  all-important 
question  for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  "  can  I  be  elected."  Six 
months  before  when  he  had  asked  himself  "  Can  I  be  nomi- 
nated? "  he  had  been  forced  to  reply  "  Not  probable."  Even 


362  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

the  very  morning  of  the  nomination  he  had  said  despond- 
ently to  a  friend,  "  I  guess  I'll  go  back  to  practising  law," 
but  now  when  he  asked  himself  "  Can  I  be  elected  ?  "  the  an- 
swer he  gave  was  far  from  uncertain.  With  the  tables  of 
the  popular  vote  since  1856  before  him  he  reckoned  his 
chances.  Twenty-four  States  out  of  the  thirty-three  which 
then  formed  the  Union  had  taken  part  in  the  Chicago  Conven- 
tion. These  twenty-four  States  held  234  of  the  303  electoral 
votes  to  be  cast.  On  how  many  of  them  could  he  depend? 
In  1856  the  first  time  the  party  had  appeared  in  a  presiden- 
tial contest  it  had  secured  for  Fremont  eleven  States,*  114 
electoral  votes.  On  these  Lincoln  felt  he  still  could  count. 
But  that  was  not  enough,  nor  was  it  all  the  Republicans 
claimed.  The  growth  of  the  party  had  been  steady  and 
vigorous  since  1856.  The  whole  country  saw  that  if  the 
Chicago  Convention  chose  a  presidential  candidate  accepta- 
ble to  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  those 
States  would  certainly  go  Republican.  Lincoln  added  their 
votes  to  the  114  of  the  certain  States.  It  gave  him  169 — a 
respectable  majority  of  the  303  which  the  electoral  college 
would  cast. 

The  tables  were  in  his  favor;  but  that  was  not  all  in  the 
situation  which  encouraged  him.  Lincoln  saw  that,  as  his 
nomination  in  Chicago  had  been  largely  the  result  of  dis- 
agreement among  the  Republicans,  so  there  was  a  possibility 
of  his  election  being  the  result  of  quarrels  among  the  Demo- 
crats. The  National  Democratic  Convention  had  met  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  April  23.  From  the  open- 
ing, the  sessions  were  stormy.  One  vital  difference  divided 
the  body.  The  South  was  determined  that  a  platform  should 
be  adopted  stating  unequivocally  that  slaves  could  be  car- 


*  The  states  which  went  for  Fremont  in  1856  were  Connecticut,  Iowa 
Maine,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  New  Hampshire.  New  York,  Ohio. 
Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  Wisconsin. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  363 

ried  into  the  Territories  and  that  neither  Congressional  nor 
Territorial  legislation  could  interfere  with  them.  The  De- 
mocracy of  the  North  was  determined  to  adopt  a  platform 
in  which  Douglas's  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty  was 
the  central  plank.  The  time  had  been  when  the  South  had 
been  thoroughly  satisfied  with  the  Douglas  theory;  that  it 
was  not  so  now  was  due  largely  to  Lincoln.  He  had  discov- 
ered that  Douglas  in  presenting  his  attractive  dogma  that  the 
people  of  the  States  should  be  left  to  regulate  their  domestic 
concerns  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution, 
gave  one  interpretation  in  the  South,  another  in  the  North. 
Knowing  that  Illinois  wrould  never  consent  to  the  doctrine 
as  the  South  understood  it,  nor  the  South  to  the  Northern 
notion,  Lincoln  forced  Douglas  in  1858  in  a  debate  at  Free- 
port,  Illinois,  to  explain  his  meaning.  Illinois  was  satisfied 
with  the  explanation,  but  the  South  saw  the  deceit.  From 
the  day  of  the  Freeport  Debate  Douglas's  power  in  the 
South  declined.  When  the  Charleston  Convention  met  the 
Southern  Democrats  were  fully  determined  to  defeat  the 
man  who  had  so  nearly  persuaded  them  to  a  doctrine  which 
he  interpreted  according  to  the  prejudices  of  the  section  in 
which  he  spoke.  When  a  Douglas  platform  was  adopted  by 
the  convention  they  withdrew.  The  upshot  of  this  seces- 
sion was  that  the  two  factions  called  fresh  conventions  to 
meet  in  Baltimore  in  June.  There  the  Northern  Democracy 
nominated  as  its  candidates  Douglas  and  Johnson.  A  few 
days  later  the  Southern  Democrats  named  Breckinridge  and 
Lane. 

Thus  when  Lincoln  was  nominated  his  opponents  were  di- 
vided. The  opposition  to  him  was  still  further  weakened  by 
the  appearance  of  a  sporadic  party  the  Constitutional  Union 
which  in  a  vague  and  general  platform  shirked  the  very  pre- 
cise and  vital  question  at  issue  and  declared  finely  for  "  the 
Constitution  of  the  countrv,  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  the 


364  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

enforcement  of  the  laws."  This  party  nominated  Bell  and 
Everett,  known  as  the  "Kangaroo  Ticket"  because  "  the 
hind  part  was  the  stronger." 

The  tables  were  in  his  favor.  If  his  own  party  stood  by 
him,  he  felt  sure  of  his  election.  There  was  every  sign  that 
it  would.  "  So  far  as  I  can  learn,"  he  wrote  his  friend 
Washburne  a  few  days  after  the  convention,  "  the  nomina- 
tions start  well  everywhere;  and,  if  they  get  no  back-set,  it 
would  seem  as  if  they  were  going  through." 

The  "  start "  of  the  nominations  had  in  fact  been  very 
good.  Nothing  more  jubilant  could  have  been  conceived 
than  the  reception  given  Lincoln's  name  in  the  Northwest. 
"  There  won't  be  a  tar  barrel  left  in  Illinois  to-night,"  said 
Douglas,  in  Washington,  to  his  senatorial  friends,  who 
asked  him  when  the  news  of  the  nomination  reached  them, 
"  Who  is  this  man  Lincoln,  anyhow  ?  "  Douglas  was  right. 
Not  only  the  tar  barrels  but  half  the  fences  of  the  State 
went  up  in  the  fire  of  rejoicing. 

The  demonstrations  in  the  Middle  States  and  in  the  East 
were  hardly  less  exultant.  There  was  a  striking  difference 
in  them,  however.  In  the  Northwest  it  was  the  candidate,  in 
the  rest  of  the  country  the  platform  and  the  probability  of  its 
success,  which  inspired  the  popular  outbursts.  And  this  was 
inevitable,  so  little  was  Lincoln  known  outside  of  his  own 
part  of  the  country.  The  orators  at  the  ratification  meet- 
ings of  the  East  found  it  necessary  to  look  up  his  history  to 
tell  their  audiences  who  he  was.  The  newspapers  printed 
biographical  sketches,  and  very  meagre  ones  they  were;  for 
up  to  this  time  almost  no  details  of  his  life  had  been  pub- 
lished. These  facts  filled  many  a  serious-minded  Republi- 
can with  dismay.  To  them  there  seemed  but  one  explana- 
tion for  the  choice  of  Lincoln  over  the  heads  of  so  many  more 
experienced  and  distinguished  men — it  had  been  a  political 
trick  born  of  the  sentiment  "  Anvthing  to  beat  Seward."  "  I 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  365 

remember,"  says  a  Republican  of  1860,  "  that  when  I  first 
read  the  news  on  a  bulletin  board  as  I  came  down  street  in 
Philadelphia  that  I  experienced  a  moment  of  intense  physical 
pain,  it  was  as  though  some  one  had  dealt  me  a  heavy  blow 
over  the  head,  then  my  strength  failed  me.  I  believed  our 
cause  was  doomed." 

The  opposition  press  found  in  Lincoln's  obscurity  abundant 
editorial  material.  He  was  a  "  third-rate  country  lawyer, 
poorer  even  than  poor  Pierce/'  said  the  New  York  "Herald." 
Of  course,  he  would  be  a  "  nullity  "  if  he  were  elected.  How 
could  a  man  be  otherwise  who  had  never  done  anything  but 
deliver  a  few  lectures  and  get  himself  beaten  by  Douglas  in 
the  campaign  of  '58.  They  hooted  at  his  "  coarse  and  clumsy 
jokes,"  declared  that  he  "  could  not  speak  good  grammar," 
and  that  all  he  was  really  distinguished  for  was  rail-split- 
ting, running  a  "  broad-horn,"  and  bearing  the  sobriquet  of 
"  honest  old  Abe."  The  snobbishness  of  the  country  came 
out  in  full.  He  was  not  a  gentleman;  that  is,  he  did  not 
know  how  to  wear  clothes,  perhaps  sat  at  times  in  shirt 
sleeves,  tilted  back  his  chair.  He  could  quote  neither  Latin 
nor  Greek,  had  never  travelled,  had  no  pedigree. 

The  Republican  press  took  up  the  gauntlet.  To  the  charge 
that  he  would  be  a  "  nullity  "  the  "  Tribune  "  replied  "A  man 
who  by  his  own  genius  and  force  of  character  has  raised 
himself  from  being  a  penniless  and  uneducated  flat  boatman 
on  the  Wabash  River  to  the  position  Mr.  Lincoln  now  oc- 
cupies is  not  likely  to  be  a  nullity  anywhere."  And  Bryant 
answered  all  the  sneering  by  a  noble  editorial  in  which  he 
claimed  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  "  A  Real  Representative  Man." 
Nevertheless  the  eagerness  with  which  the  Republican 
press  hastened  to  show  that  Lincoln  was  not  the  coarse  back- 
woodsman the  Democrats  painted  him  showed  how  much 
they  winced  under  the  charges.  Reporters  were  sent  Wes/ 
to  describe  his  home,  his  family,  and  his  habits,  in  order  to 


366  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

prove  that  he  did  not  live  in  "  low  Hoosier  style."  They 
told  with  great  satisfaction  that  he  wore  daily  a  broadcloth 
suit  "  almost  elegant,"  they  described  his  modest  home  as  a 
"  mansion  "  and  "  an  elegant  two-story  dwelling  "  and  they 
never  failed  to  note  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  spoke  French  fluently 
and  that  he  had  a  son  in  Harvard  College.  When  they  could 
with  reasonable  certainty  connect  him  with  the  Lincolns  of 
Hingham,  Mass.,  they  heralded  his  "  good  blood "  with 
pride  and  marshalled  the  Lincolns  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

Among  the  common  people  the  jeers  that  Lincoln  was 
but  a  rail-splitter  was  a  spur  to  enthusiasm.  Too  many 
of  the  solid  men  of  the  North  had  swung  an  axe,  too  many 
of  them  had  passed  from  log  hut  to  mansion,  not  to  blaze 
with  sympathetic  indignation  when  the  party  was  taunted 
with  nominating  a  backwoodsman.  The  rail  became  their 
emblem  and  their  rallying  cry,  and  the  story  of  the  rail 
fence  Lincoln  had  built  a  feature  of  every  campaign  speech 
and  every  country  store  discussion.  In  a  week  after  his 
nomination  two  rails  declared  to  have  been  split  by  Lincoln 
were  on  exhibition  in  New  York,  and  certain  zealous  Penn- 
sylvanians  had  sent  to  Macon,  111.,  asking  to  buy  the  whole 
fence  and  have  it  shipped  East.  It  was  the  rail  which  deco- 
rated campaign  medals,  inspired  campaign  songs,  appeared 
in  campaign  cartoons.  There  was  something  more  than  a 
desire  to  "  stand  by  the  candidate  "  in  the  enthusiasm.  At 
bottom  it  was  a  popular  vindication  of  the  American  way  ot 
making  a  man. 

More  important  to  Lincoln  than  any  popular  enthusiasm 
was  the  ratification  given  his  nomination  by  the  rival  candi- 
dates. What  would  they  do?  The  whole  party  held  its 
breath  until  Seward  was  heard  from.  No  man  could  have 
taken  a  crushing  defeat  more  nobly.  He  was  at  his  home  in 
Auburn,  New  York,  on  May  18,  the  day  of  the  nomination, 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  367 

and  when  the  news  of  Lincoln's  success  was  brought  him, 
his  informer  told  him  that  there  was  not  a  Republican  to  be 
found  in  town  who  had  the  heart  left  to  write  an  editorial 
for  the  "  Daily  Advertiser "  approving  the  nomination. 
Seward  smilingly  took  his  pen  and  wrote  the  following  para- 
graph, which  appeared  that  evening: — 

"  No  truer  exposition  of  the  Republican  creed  could  be 
given,  than  the  platform  adopted  by  the  convention  con- 
tains. No  truer  or  firmer  defenders  of  the  Republican  faith 
could  have  been  found  in  the  Union,  than  the  distinguished 
and  esteemed  citizens  on  whom  the  honors  of  the  nomination 
have  fallen.  Their  election,  we  trust  by  a  decisive  majority, 
will  restore  the  Government  of  the  U.  S.  to  its  Constitutional 
and  ancient  course.  Let  the  watch-word  of  the  Republican 
party  be  '  Union  and  Liberty/  and  onward  to  victory." 

A  few  days  later  Seward  went  to  Washington  where  a 
number  of  disappointed  and  rebellious  Republicans  called 
upon  him  to  offer  their  condolence.  "  Mr.  Seward,"  they 
said,  "  we  cannot  accept  this  situation.  We  want  you  to 
bolt  the  nomination  and  run  on  an  independent  ticket." 

Mr.  Seward  smiled :  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  your  zeal 
outruns  your  discretion.  There  are  many  of  you  giving  this 
advice  now,  say  perhaps  three  hundred.  Two  weeks  hence 
there  would  be  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  the  next  week  fifty. 
After  that  only  William  H.  Seward.  No,  gentlemen,  the 
Republican  party  was  not  made  for  William  H.  Seward,  but 
Mr.  Seward,  if  he  is  worth  anything  for  the  Republican 
party,  and  I  believe  I  have  still  work  to  do,  I  must  therefore 
decline  to  accept  your  advice.  I  have  had  some  experience 
of  this  kind.  I  ran  once  as  a  candidate  for  the  nomination 
to  the  governorship  of  New  York;  I  was  defeated;  my 
friends  wanted  me  to  bolt  and  run  independently,  but  I  de- 
clined. My  opp°nent  wno  had  received  the  nomination,  was 
defeated  in  the  election.  I  would  have  been  defeated. 


368  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

Another  year  I  did  receive  the  nomination  and  I  was  elected, 
but  if  I  had  consented  in  the  first  place  to  bolt  the  regular 
nominee  I  would  never  have  received  the  nomination  regu- 
larly a  second  time  and  so  would  never  have  been  Governor 
of  New  York."* 

Seward  wrote  Lincoln  very  soon  congratulating  him  and 
promising  support.  So  did  the  other  leading  rivals.  The 
letters  were  grateful  to  Lincoln.  "  Holding  myself  the  hum- 
blest of  all  those  whose  names  were  before  the  convention," 
he  wrote  Chase,  "  I  feel  in  special  need  of  the  assistance  of 
all;  and  I  am  glad — very  glad — of  the  indication  that  you 
stand  ready." 

With  these  congratulations  and  promises  of  support  from 
his  rivals  came  others  from  men  not  less  known.  Joshua 
Giddings  wrote  Lincoln  an  admirable  letter  on  May  19 : 

"  Dear  Lincoln :  You're  nominated.  You  will  be  elected. 
After  your  election,  thousands  will  crowd  around  you,  claim- 
ing rewards  for  services  rendered.  I,  too,  have  my  claims 
upon  you.  I  have  not  worked  for  your  nomination,  nor  for 
that  of  any  other  man.  I  have  labored  for  the  establishment 
of  principles ;  and  when  men  came  to  me  asking  my  opinion 
of  you,  I  only  told  them,  '  Lincoln  is  an  honest  man/  All 
I  ask  of  you  in  return  for  my  services  is,  make  my  statement 
good  through  your  administration.  Yours,  GIDDINGS." 

Lincoln  soon  saw  that  not  only  the  strong  men  of  his  party 
were  supporting  him,  but  that  they  were  working  harmoni- 
ously in  an  excellent  organization.  The  Republicans  all 
agreed  with  the  "  Tribune  "  that  "  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln though  it  could  not  be  accomplished  without  work,  was 
eminently  a  thing  that  could  be  done,"  and  they  set  themselves 
vigorously  to  do  it.  As  the  party  was  composed  largely  of 
young  men  who  felt  that  the  cause  was  worthy  of  their  best 

*  The  Hon.  H.  L.  Dawes  in  interview  corrected  by  him  and  published 
with  his  permission. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  369 

efforts,  great  zest  and  ingenuity  were  thrown  into  the  cam- 
paigning.   Arrangements  were  immediately  made  for  a  sys- 
tematic stumping  of  the  whole  country.     The  speakers  en- 
gaged were  of  a  very  high  order,  among  them  being  Sum- 
ner,  Seward,  Chase,  Cassius  M.   Clay,   Greeley,   Stevens. 
Many  of  the  speeches  were  of  more  than  usual  dramatic  in* 
terest.    Such  was  Sumner's  great  speech  at  Cooper  Institute, 
July  n,  on  "  The  Origin,  Necessity  and  Permanence  of  the 
Republican  Party."    It  was  the  first  speech  Sumner  had  made 
in  public  since  the  attack  on  him  in  the  Senate  in  1856,  and 
attracted  immense  attention.    Seward  made  a  five  weeks'  trip 
through  the  West,  often  speaking  several  times  a  day.    No 
one  worked  harder  than  Carl  Schurz.     "  I  began  speaking 
shortly  after  the  convention,"  Mr.  Schurz  once  told  the 
author,  "  and  continued  until  the  day  of  the  election,  mak- 
ing from  one  to  three  speeches,   with  the  exception  of 
about  ten  days  in  September  when  I  was  so  fatigued  that  I 
had  to  stop  for  a  little  while.    I  spoke  in  both  Engjish  and 
German,  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Committee  and 
not  only  in  the  larger  towns,  but  frequently  also  in  country 
districts."    No  speaker  of  the  campaign  touched  the  people 
more  deeply.     "  Young,  ardent,  aspiring,"  said  the  New 
York  "  Evening  Post,"  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Schurz,  "  the  ro- 
mances connected  with  his  life  and  escape  from  his  father- 
land, his  scholarly  attainments,  and,  above  all,  his  devotion 
to  the  principles  which  cast  him  an  exile  on  our  shores,  have 
all  combined  to  render  him  dear  to  the  hearts  of  his  country- 
men and  to  place  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  their  leaders." 
Beside  this  educational  work  on  the  stump  was  that  by 
pamphlets.    After  the  campaign  lives  of  Lincoln  and  Ham- 
lin,  of  which  there  were  many,*  the  "  campaign  tracts  "  is- 


*  On  May  19,  the  day  after  the  nominations  were  made,  five  different 
lives  of  Lincoln  were  announced  by  the  New  York  "Evening  Post." 
The  first  to  appear  was  the  Wigwam  Edition,  which  was  ready  at  the 


370  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

sued  by  the  "  Tribune  "  were  the  most  widely  circulated  docu* 
ments.  There  were  several  of  these,  the  most  popular  being 
Carl  Schurz's  speech  on  the  Doom  of  Slavery,  and  Seward's 
on  the  Irrepressible  Conflict.  There  was  at  the  same  time, 
of  course,  an  immense  amount  .done  in  the  press,  and  much 
of  it  by  the  ablest  literary  men  the  United  States  has  pro- 
duced, thus  Lowell  wrote  essays  for  the  "Atlantic,"  Whittier 
verses  for  the  "  Tribune  "  and  the  "  Atlantic,"  Bryant,  Gree- 
ley,  Raymond,  Bowles  editorials  for  their  journals. 

The  Republican  campaign  of  1860  had  one  distinguishing 
feature, — the  Wide  Awakes,  bands  of  torch-bearers  who  in 
a  simple  uniform  of  glazed  cap  and  cape,  and  carrying  col- 
ored lanterns  or  blazing  coal-oil  torches,  paraded  the  streets 
of  almost  every  town  of  the  North  throughout  the  summer 
and  fall,  arousing  everywhere  the  wildest  enthusiasm.  Their 
origin  was  purely  accidental.  In  February,  Cassius  M.  Clay 
spoke  in  Hartford,  Connecticut.  A  few  ardent  young  Re- 
publicans accompanied  him  as  a  kind  of  body  guard,  and  to 
save  their  garments  from  the  dripping  of  the  torches  a  few 
of  them  wore  improvised  capes  of  black  glazed  cambric.  The 
uniform  attracted  so  much  attention  that  a  campaign  club 
formed  in  Hartford  soon  after  adopted  it.  This  club  called 
itself  the  Wide-A  wakes.  Other  clubs  took  up  the  idea,  and 
soon  there  were  Wide-A  wakes  drilling  regularly  from  one 
end  of  the  North  to  the  other. 

A  great  many  fantastic  movements  were  invented  by  them, 
a  favorite  one  being  a  peculiar  zig-zag  march — an  imita- 

beginning  of  June.  The  best  were  those  by  W.  D.  Howells  and  David 
W.  Bartlett. 

The  Illinois  "  State  Journal"  of  June  5, 1860,  quoted  a  paragraph  from 
the  Cincinnati  "  Commercial "  to  the  effect  that  "  it  is  stated  that  there 
have  already  been  fifty-two  applications  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  write  hi* 


'he  "Journal  "  of  June  15,  1860,  said  that  none  of  the  numerous  biog- 
raphies announced  by  publishers  as  "  authorized  "  or  the  "  only  author- 
ized" has  been  in  fact  authorized  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  "He  is  ignorant  ol 
their  contents  and  is  not  responsible  for  anything  they  contain." 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  371 

tion  of  the  party  emblem — the  rail-fence.  Numbers  of  the 
clubs  adopted  the  rules  and  drills  of  the  Chicago  Zouaves — 
one  of  the  most  popular  military  organizations  of  the  day. 
In  the  summer  of  1860  Colonel  Ellsworth,  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  Zouaves,  brought  them  East.  The  Wide- 
Awake  movement  was  greatly  stimulated  by  this  tour  of  the 
Zouaves. 

Almost  all  of  the  clubs  had  their  peculiar  badges,  Lincoln 
splitting  rails  or  engineering  a  flat-boat  being  a  favorite  deco- 
ration for  them.  There  were  many  medals  worn  as  well. 
Many  of  these  combined  business  and  politics  adroitly,  the 
obverse  advising  you  to  "  vote  for  the  rail-splitter,"  the  re- 
verse to  buy  somebody's  soap,  or  tea,  or  wagons. 

Many  of  the  clubs  owned  Lincoln  rails  which  were  given 
the  place  of  honor  on  all  public  occasion  and  the  "  Origin- 
als," as  the  Hartford  Wide- A  wakes  were  called,  possessed 
the  identical  maul  with  which  Lincoln  had  split  the  rails  for 
the  famous  fence.  It  had  been  secured  in  Illinois  together 
with  such  weighty  credentials  that  nobody  could  dispute  its 
claim,  and  was  the  pride  of  the  club.  It  still  is  to  be  seen  in 
Hartford  occupying  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  collection  of 
the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 

Campaign  songs  set  to  familiar  airs  were  heard  on  every 
hand.  Many  of  these  never  had  more  than  a  local  vogue, 
but  others  were  sung  generally.  One  of  the  most  ringing 
was  E.  C.  Stedman's  "  Honest  Abe  of  the  West,"  sung  to 
the  air  of  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  " : 

"Then  on  to  the  holy  Republican  strife! 

And  again,  for  a  future  as  fair  as  the  morning, 
For  the  sake  of  that  freedom  more  precious  than  life, 

Ring  out  the  grand  anthem  of  Liberty's  warning ! 
Lift  the  banner  on  high,  while  from  mountain  and  plain, 

The  cheers  of  the  people  are  sounded  again; 
Hurrah  !  for  our  cause— of  all  causes  the  best ! 
Hurrah !  for  Old  Abe,  Honest  Abe  of  the  West  I" 


3/2  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

One  of  the  campaign  songs  which  will  never  be  forgotten 
was  Whittier's  "  The  Quakers  Are  Out :— " 

"Give  the  flags  to  the  winds!          :\ 

Set  the  hills  all  aflame ! 
Make  way  for  the  man  with 

The  Patriarch's  name  1 
Away  with  misgivings— away 

With  all  doubt, 
For  Lincoln  goes  in  when  the 

Quakers  are  cut ! " 

In  many  of  the  States  great  rallies  were  held  at  central 
points,  at  which  scores  of  Wide- A  wake  clubs  and  a  dozen 
popular  speakers  were  present.  The  most  enthusiastic  of  all 
these  was  held  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  own  home,  Springfield,  on 
August  8.  Fully  75,000  people  gathered  for  the  celebration, 
by  far  the  greater  number  coming  across  the  prairies  on 
horseback  or  in  wagons.  A  procession  eight  miles  long  filed 
by  Mr.  Lincoln's  door. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Washburne,  who  was  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
Springfield  that  day,  says  of  this  mass  meeting : 

"  It  was  one  of  the  most  enormous  and  impressive  gath- 
erings I  had  ever  witnessed.  Mr.  Lincoln,  surrounded  by 
some  intimate  friends,  sat  on  the  balcony  of  his  humble 
home.  It  took  hours  for  all  the  delegations  to  file  before 
him,  and  there  was  no  token  of  enthusiasm  wanting.  He 
was  deeply  touched  by  the  manifestations  of  personal  and 
political  friendships,  and  returned  all  his  salutations  in  that 
off-hand  and  kindly  manner  which  belonged  to  him.  I  know 
of  no  demonstration  of  a  similar  character  that  can  com- 
pare with  it  except  the  review  by  Napoleon  of  his  army  for 
the  invasion  of  Russia,  about  the  same  season  of  the  year  in 
1812." 

From  May  until  November  this  work  for  the  ticket  went 
on  steadily  and  ardently.  Mr.  Lincoln  during  all  this  time 
remained  quietly  in  Springfield.  The  conspicuous  position 
in  which  he  was  placed  made  almost  no  d>%rence  in  his  sim- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  373 

pie  life.  He  was  the  same  genial,  accessible,  modest  man  as 
ever,  his  habits  as  unpretentious,  his  friendliness  as  great. 
The  chief  outward  change  in  his  daily  round  was  merely  one 
of  quarters.  It  seemed  to  his  friends  that  neither  his  home 
nor  his  dingy  law  office  was  an  appropriate  place  in  which 
to  receive  his  visitors  and  they  arranged  that  a  room  in  the 
State  House  which  stood  on  the  village  green  in  the  centre 
of  the  town,  be  put  at  his  disposal.  He  came  down  to  this 
office  every  morning  about  eight  o'clock,  always  stopping 
on  his  way  in  his  old  cordial  fashion  to  ask  the  news  or  ex- 
change a  story  when  he  met  an  acquaintance.  Frequently 
he  went  to  the  post-office  himself  before  going  to  his  office 
and  came  out  his  arms  loaded  with  letters  and  papers. 

He  had  no  regular  hours  for  visitors ;  there  was  no  cere- 
mony for  admittance  to  his  presence.  People  came  when 
they  would.  Usually  they  found  the  door  open ;  if  it  was  not, 
it  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  own  voice  which  answered,  "  come  in," 
to  their  knock.  These  visitors  were  a  strange  medley  of  the 
curious,  the  interested  and  the  friendly.  Many  came  simply 
to  see  him,  to  say  they  had  shaken  hands  with  him; 
numbers  to  try  to  find  out  what  his  policy  would  be  if  elected; 
others  to  wish  him  success.  All  day  long  they  filed  in  and 
out  leaving  him  some  days  no  time  for  his  correspondence, 
which  every  day  grew  larger.  He  seemed  never  to  be  in  a 
hurry,  never  to  lose  patience,  however  high  his  table  was 
piled  with  mail,  however  closely  his  room  was  crowded 
with  visitors.  He  even  found  time  to  give  frequent  sittings 
to  the  artists  sent  from  various  parts  of  the  country  to  paint 
his  portrait.  Among  those  who  came  in  the  summer  after 
the  nomination  were  Berry,  of  Boston ;  Hicks,  of  New  York; 
Conant,  of  St.  Louis;  Wright,  of  Mobile;  Brown,  and  At- 
wood,  of  Philadelphia;  Jones,  of  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Lincoln 
took  the  kindliest  interest  in  these  men,  and  later  when  Presi- 
dent did  more  than  one  of  them  a  friendly  turn;  thus  in 


374  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

March,  1865  he  wrote  to  Seward  in  regard  to  Jones  and 
Piatt,  that  he  had  "  some  wish  "  that  they  might  have  "  some 
of  those  moderate  sized  consulates  which  facilitate  artists  a 
little  in  their  profession."  They  in  their  turn  never  forgot 
him.  Sitting  over  their  easels  by  the  hour  in  the  corner  of 
his  office  assigned  them  they  got  many  glimpses  into  the 
man's  great  heart,  and  nowhere  do  we  get  pleasanter  pic- 
tures of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  this  period  than  from  their  journals. 
To  those  who  observed  Mr.  Lincoln  closely  as  he  received 
his  visitors  one  thing  was  apparent:  he  always  remained 
master  of  the  interview.  While  his  visitors  told  him  a  great 
deal,  they  learned  nothing  from  him  which  he  did  not  wish  to 
give.  The  following  observations,  published  in  the  Illinois 
"  State  Journal "  in  November,  1860,  illustrate  very  well 
what  happened  almost  every  day  in  his  office : 

"  While  talking  to  two  or  three  gentlemen  and  standing 
up,  a  very  hard  looking  customer  rolled  in  and  tumbled  into 
the  only  vacant  chair  and  the  one  lately  occupied  by  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. Mr.  Lincoln's  keen  eye  took  in  the  fact,  but  gave  no 
evidence  of  the  notice.  Turning  around  at  last  he  spoke  to 
the  odd  specimen,  holding  out  his  hand  at  such  a  distance 
that  our  friend  had  to  vacate  the  chair  if  he  accepted  the 
proffered  shake.  Mr.  Lincoln  quietly  resumed  his  chair.  It 
was  a  small  matter,  yet  one  giving  proof  more  positively  than 
a  larger  event  of  that  peculiar  way  the  man  has  of  mingling 
with  a  mixed  crowd. 

"  He  converses  fluently  on  all  subjects,  illustrates  every- 
thing by  a  merry  anecdote,  of  which  article  he  has  an  abun- 
dant supply.  I  said  on  all  subjects.  He  does  not  talk  poli- 
tics. He  passes  from  that  gracefully  the  moment  it  is  intro- 
duced. Hundreds  seek  him  every  week  to  get  his  opinion 
on  this  or  that  subject.  He  has  a  jolly  way  of  disposing  of 
that  matter  by  saying,  '  Ah !  you  haven't  read  my  speeches. 
Let  me  make  you  a  present  of  my  speeches.'  And  the  earnest 
inquirer  finds  himself  the  happy  possessor  of  some  old  docu- 
ments." 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  375 

Among  his  daily  visitors  there  were  usually  men  of  emi- 
nence from  North  and  South.  He  received  them  all  with  per- 
fect simplicity  and  always  even  on  his  busiest  days,  found  a 
moment  to  turn  away  from  them  to  greet  old  friends  who 
had  known  him  when  he  kept  grocery  in  New  Salem  or  acted 
as  deputy-surveyor  of  Sangamon  County.  One  day  as  he 
talked  to  a  company  of  distinguished  strangers  an  old  lady 
in  a  big  sun-bonnet,  heavy  boots  and  short  skirts  walked  into 
the  office.  She  carried  a  package  wrapped  in  brown  paper 
and  tied  with  a  white  string.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln  saw 
her  he  left  the  group,  went  to  meet  her  and,  shaking  her  hand 
cordially,  inquired  for  her  "  folks."  After  a  moment  the 
old  lady  opened  her  package  and  taking  out  a  pair  of  coarse 
wool  socks  she  handed  them  to  him.  "  I  wanted  to  give  you 
somethin',  Mr.  Linkin,"  she  said,  "  to  take  to  Washington, 
and  that's  all  I  hed.  I  spun  that  yarn  and  knit  them  socks 
myself."  Thanking  her  warmly,  Itfr.  Lincoln  took  the  socks 
and  holding  them  up  by  the  toes,  one  in  each  hand,  he  turned 
to  the  astonished  celebrities  and  said  in  a  voice  full  of  kindly 
amusement,  "  The  lady  got  my  latitude  and  longitude  about 
right,  didn't  she,  gentlemen  ?  " 

The  old  lady  was  not  the  only  one,  however,  who  gave  Mr. 
Lincoln  "  something  to  carry  to  Washington."  From  the 
time  of  his  nomination  gifts  poured  in  on  him.  Many  of 
these  came  in  the  form  of  wearing  apparel.  Mr.  George  Lin- 
coln, of  Brooklyn,  who  in  January  carried  a  handsome  silk 
hat  to  the  President-elect,  the  gift  of  a  New  York  hatter,  says 
that  in  receiving  the  hat,  Mr.  Lincoln  laughed  heartily  over 
the  gifts  of  clothing  and  remarked  to  Mrs.  Lincoln : 

"  Well,  wife,  if  nothing  else  comes  out  of  this  scrape,  we 
are  going  to  have  some  new  clothes,  are  we  not?  " 

To  those  who  observed  Mr.  Lincoln  superficially  in  this 
period,  it  might  have  seemed  that  he  was  doing  nothing  of 
any  value  to  himself  or  to  his  party.  Certainly  he  was  taking 


376  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

no  active  part  in  the  campaign.  He  was  making  no  speeches 
— writing  no  letters — giving  no  interviews.  This  policy  of 
silence  he  had  adopted  at  the  outset.  The  very  night  of  his 
nomination  his  townspeople  in  serenading  him  had  called  for 
a  speech.  Standing  in  the  doorway  of  his  house  he  said  to 
them  that  he  did  not  suppose  the  honor  of  such  a  visit  was 
intended  particularly  for  himself  as  a  private  citizen,  but 
rather  as  the  representative  of  a  great  party;  that  as  to  his 
position  on  the  political  questions  of  the  day  he  could  only 
refer  them  to  his  previous  speeches,  and  he  added : — "  Fel- 
low citizens  and  friends :  The  time  comes  upon  every  pub- 
lic man,  when  it  is  best  for  him  to  keep  his  lips  closed.  That 
time  has  come  upon  me."  When  in  August  the  monster 
mass  meeting  was  held  in  Springfield  every  effort  was  made 
to  persuade  Mr.  Lincoln  to  speak.  All  he  would  consent  to 
do  was  to  appear  and  in  a  few  words  excuse  himself.  Up  to 
the  time  he  left  for  Washington  to  be  inaugurated,  he  kept 
his  resolve. 

Nor  would  he  write  letters  explaining  his  position,  or  de- 
fending himself.  So  many  letters  were  received  asking  his 
political  opinion  that  he  found  it  necessary  soon  after  his 
nomination  to  prepare  the  following  form  of  reply  to  be 
sent  out  by  his  secretary : 

"  Dear  Sir :    Your  letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln  of ,  and  by 

which  you  seek  to  obtain  his  opinions  on  certain  political 
points,  has  been  received  by  him.  He  has  received  others 
of  a  similar  character,  but  he  also  has  a  greater  number  of 
the  exactly  opposite  character.  The  latter  class  beseech  him 
to  write  nothing  whatever  upon  any  point  of  political  doc- 
trine. They  say  his  positions  were  well  known  when  he  was 
nominated,  and  that  he  must  not  now  embarrass  the  canvass 
by  undertaking  to  shift  or  modify  them.  He  regrets  that  he 
cannot  oblige  all,  but  you  perceive  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
do  so.  Yours,  etc., 

"JNO.    G.    NlCOLAY." 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  377 

To  one  gentleman  who  asked  him  to  write  something  dis- 
claiming all  intention  to  interfere  with  slaves  or  slavery  in 
the  States,  he  replied,  "  I  have  already  done  this  many  many 
times;  and  it  is  in  print  and  open  to  all  who  will  read. 
Those  who  will  not  read  or  heed  what  I  have  already  pub- 
licly said  would  not  read  or  heed  a  repetition  of  it.  If  they 
hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  per- 
suaded though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

And  to  another  correspondent  who  suggested  that  he  set 
forth  his  conservative  views,  he  wrote: — 

***"  I  will  not  forbear  from  doing  so  merely  on  punctilio 
and  pluck.  If  I  do  finally  abstain,  it  will  be  because  of  ap- 
prehension that  it  would  do  harm.  For  the  good  men  of  the 
South — and  I  regard  the  majority  of  them  as  such — I  have 
no  objection  to  repeat  seventy  and  seven  times.  But  I  have 
bad  men  to  deal  with,  both  North  and  South ;  men  who  are 
eager  for  something  new  upon  which  to  base  new  misrepre- 
sentations; men  who  would  like  to  frighten  me,  or  at  least 
to  fix  upon  me  the  character  of  timidity  and  cowardice.  They 
would  seize  upon  almost  any  letter  I  could  write  as  being  an 
'  awful  coming  down/  I  intend  keeping  my  eye  upon  these 
gentlemen,  and  to  not  unnecessarily  put  any  weapons  in  their 
hands." 

Nor  would  he  defend  himself  against  the  "  campaign  sto- 
nes "  which  appeared  in  numbers.  One  of  which  his  enemies 
made  much  was  that  he  had  received  two  hundred  dollars  for 
the  Cooper  Union  speech  in  February,  1860.  They  claimed 
that  as  it  was  a  political  speech  it  was  contrary  to  political 
etiquette  to  accept  pay.  Lincoln  explained  the  affair  in  a  let- 
ter to  a  gentleman  who  had  been  disturbed  by  it  and  added : — 

"  I  have  made  this  explanation  to  you  as  a  friend,  but  I 
wish  no  explanation  made  to  our  enemies.  What  they  want 
is  a  squabble  and  a  fuss,  and  that  they  can  have  if  we  ex- 
plain ;  and  they  cannot  have  it  if  we  don't." 


378  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Another  foolish  tale  which  caused  Lincoln's  partisans  un- 
rest was  that  when  he  was  a  member  of  Congress  he  had 
charged  several  pairs  of  boots  to  his  stationery  account  and 
that  they  had  been  paid  for  out  of  public  funds.  One  of  Lin- 
coln's friends  took  the  trouble  to  examine  the  stationery 
account  for  the  Thirtieth  Congress  and  to  publish  a  certified 
denial  of  the  story. 

Lincoln's  silence  and  inactivity  were  merely  external.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  no  one  was  busier  than  he.  No  one  was  fol- 
lowing more  intently  and  thoughtfully  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  situation  and  the  daily  fluctuation  of  opinion. 
By  correspondence,  from  the  press,  through  his  visitors  many 
of  whom  came  to  Springfield  at  his  request,  he  kept  himself 
informed  of  how  the  campaign  was  going  from  Maine  to 
California.  Whenever  he  feared  a  break  in  the  ranks  he  put 
in  a  word  of  warning  or  of  advice.  He  warned  Thurlow 
Weed  that  Douglas  was  "  managing  the  Bell  element  with 
great  adroitness."  He  cautioned  Hannibal  Hamlin  against 
a  break  the  latter  feared  in  Maine,  "  Such  a  result  as  you 
seem  to  predict  in  Maine  " — he  wrote,  "  would,  I  fear, 
put  us  on  the  down-hill  track,  lose  us  the  State  elections  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Indiana,  and  probably  ruin  us  on  the  main 
turn  in  November."  While  he  gave  the  strictest  attention 
to  the  progress  of  the  elections  all  over  the  country,  he  man- 
aged to  keep  above  local  issues  and  to  hold  himself  aloof 
from  the  personal  contests  and  rivalries  within  the  party. 

In  fact  Lincoln  kept  in  perfect  touch  with  the  progress  of 
his  party  from  May  to  November  and  was  able  to  say  at  any 
time  with  accuracy  just  what  his  chances  were  in  each  State. 
He  seems  at  no  time  to  have  had  any  serious  fear  that  he 
would  be  defeated. 

There  was  a  tragic  side  to  this  very  certainty  of  election 
which  Lincoln  felt  deeply.  In  the  Convention  which  had 
nominated  him,  nine  States  of  the  Union  had  not  been  rep- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OP  1860  379 

resented.  If  he  should  be  elected  these  States  would  have 
had  no  voice  in  his  choice.  He  knew  that  he  was  pledged 
to  a  platform  whose  principles  these  States  stigmatized  as 
"  deception  and  fraud,"  and  that  if  elected  he  must  deny 
what  they  claimed  as  rights.  He  knew  that  in  at  least  one 
State,  Alabama,  the  legislature  two  months  before  his  nomi- 
nation had  pledged  itself  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote  in  case 
of  his  election  to  call  a  convention  to  consider  what  should 
be  done  for  "  the  protection  of  their  rights,  interests  and 
honor."  He  knew  that  numbers  of  influential  Southern  men 
were  repeating  daily  with  Wm.  L.  Yancey,  "  I  want  the 
cotton  states  precipitated  in  a  revolution,"  or  declaring  with 
Mr.  Crawford  of  Georgia,  "  We  will  never  submit  to  the  in- 
auguration of  a  Black  Republican  President." 

From  May  to  November  he  watched  anxiously  for  every 
sign  that  the  South  was  preparing  to  make  good  the  threats 
with  which  its  orators  were  inflaming  their  audiences,  which 
a  hostile  press  reiterated  day  by  day,  which  teemed  in  his 
mail,  and  which  brought  scores  of  timorous  men  to  Spring- 
field to  advise  and  warn  him.  How  serious  was  it  all  ?  He 
did  his  utmost  to  discover ;  even  writing  in  October  to  Major 
David  Hunter  to  find  out  how  much  truth  there  was  in  the 
report  of  disaffection  in  a  Western  fort :  "  I  have  a  letter 
from  a  writer  unknown  to  me,"  he  said,  "  saying  the  offi- 
cers of  the  army  at  Fort  Kearney  have  determined,  in  case  of 
Republican  success,  at  the  approaching  presidential  election, 
to  take  themselves,  and  the  arms  at  that  point,  South,  for 
the  purpose  of  resistance  to  the  government.  While  I  think 
there  are  many  chances  to  one  that  this  is  a  humbug,  it  oc- 
curs to  me  that  any  real  movement  of  this  sort  in  the  army 
would  leak  out  and  become  known  to  you.  In  such  case,  if 
it  would  not  be  unprofessional,  or  dishonorable  (of  which 
you  are  to  be  judge),  I  shall  be  much  obliged  if  you  will  ap- 
prise me  of  it" 


380  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

In  spite  of  all  that  Lincoln  knew  of  the  temper  of  the 
South,  in  spite  of  his  close  study  of  events  there  through  the 
summer  of  1860,  he  did  not  believe  secession  probable.  "  The 
people  of  the  South  have  too  much  good  sense  and  good  tem- 
per to  attempt  the  ruin  of  the  government  rather  than  see  it 
administered  as  it  was  administered  by  the  men  who  made 
it.  At  least  so  I  hope  and  believe/'  he  wrote  a  correspondent 
in  August.  And  in  September  he  said  to  a  visitor,  "  There 
are  no  real  disunionists  in  the  country." 

There  were  reasons  for  this  confidence.  In  every  State 
of  the  South  there  was  a  Union  party  working  to  meet  the 
crisis  which  Lincoln's  election  was  sure  to  produce;  many  of 
the  members  sent  him  cheering  letters.  In  acknowledging 
such  a  letter  in  August,  Lincoln  wrote :  "  It  contains  one 
of  the  many  assurances  I  receive  from  the  South,  that  in  no 
probable  event  will  there  be  any  very  formidable  effort  to 
break  up  the  Union." 

Then,  too,  Lincoln  had  heard  this  threat  of  secession  for 
so  long  that  he  had  grown  slightly  indifferent  to  it.  He  re- 
membered that  in  the  Fremont  campaign  it  had  been  em- 
ployed with  even  more  violence  than  now.  Again  in  1858 
the  clamor  of  disunion  had  risen.  He  believed  that  now 
much  of  the  noise  about  disunion  was  merely  political,  raised 
bythefriends  of  Breckenridge, Douglas, or  Bell,  to  drive  vot- 
ers from  him.  The  leading  men  of  the  party  sustained  Lin- 
coln in  this  belief.  Seward  and  Schurz  both  confidently  as- 
sured Republicans  in  their  speeches  that  they  might  vote  for 
Lincoln  without  fear,  and  Bryant,  in  the  "  Evening  Post," 
laughed  at  the  "  conservative  distresses  "  of  those  who  sup- 
posed that  Lincoln's  election  would  cause  secession  and  war ; 
reminding  them  that  when  Jefferson  was  a  candidate  it  was 
said  his  election  would  "  let  loose  the  flood-gates  of  French 
Jacobinism  "  and  that  Henry  Clay  had  declared  that  "  noth- 
ing short  of  universal  commercial  ruin  "  would  follow  Jack- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  381 

election.  Lincoln  was  sustained  not  only  by  the  as- 
surances of  the  Union  party  of  the  South  and  by  the  buoyant 
hopefulness  of  the  Republicans  of  the  North,  he  had  a  power- 
ful moral  support  in  his  own  conviction  that  no  matter  what 
effort  the  South  made  to  secede  the  North  could  and  would 
prevent  it.  He  was  and  had  been  for  years  perfectly  clear 
on  this  subject.  In  the  Fremont  campaign  he  had  said  in 
reply  to  the  threat  of  disunion,  "  No  matter  what  our  griev- 
ance— even  though  Kansas  shall  come  in  as  a  slave  State; 
and  no  matter  what  theirs — even  if  we  shall  restore  the  com- 
promise— we  will  say  to  the  Southern  disunionists  we  won't 
go  out  of  the  Union  and  you  shan't." 

It  was  then  with  the  belief  that  he  was  going  to  be  elected 
and  that  while  his  election  would  produce  a  serious  uproar  in 
the  South,  that  no  successful  resistance  would  follow,  that 
Lincoln  approached  election  day.  He  had  grown  materially 
in  the  estimation  of  the  country  in  the  interval  between  May 
and  November.  Many  of  the  leading  men  of  his  party  who 
had  deplored  his  nomination  had  come  to  believe  him  a  wise, 
strong  man.  Those  who  sought  personal  interviews  with 
him,  and  they  were  many,  went  home  feeling  like  Thurlow 
Weed  who,  heart-sick  over  Seward's  defeat  and  full  of 
distrust,  not  to  say  contempt,  of  Lincoln's  ability,  visited 
him  soon  after  the  nomination  at  the  earnest  request  of  David 
Davis  and  Leonard  Swett.  "  I  found  Mr.  Lincoln,"  wrote 
Weed  afterward,  "  sagacious  and  practical.  He  displayed 
throughout  the  conversation  so  much  good  sense,  such  intu- 
itive knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  such  familiarity  wit'h 
the  virtues  and  infirmities  of  politicians,  that  I  became  im- 
pressed very  favorably  with  his  fitness  for  the  duties  which 
he  was  not  unlikely  to  be  called  upon  to  discharge.  This 
conversation  lasted  some  five  hours,  and  when  the  train  ar- 
rived in  which  we  were  to  depart,  I  rose  all  the  better  pre- 
pared to  '  go  to  work  with  a  will '  in  favor  of  Mr.  Lincoln's, 


382  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

election,  as  the  interview  had  inspired  me  with  confidence  in 
his  capacity  and  integrity/'     .     .     . 

In  the  very  South  where,  a  fury  of  prejudice  had  burst 
and  where,  as  was  to  be  expected,  Lincoln  was  popularly 
regarded  as  an  odious  and  tyrannical  monster,  much  as  later 
the  North  regarded  Jefferson  Davis,  there  were  signs  that  he 
was  at  least  considered  honest  in  his  views. 

"  It  may  seem  strange  to  you,"  wrote  a  Kentuckian,  who 
was  quoted  by  the  New  York  "  Evening  Post,"  August  17, 
1860,  "  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  South  looks  for 
the  election  of  Lincoln  by  the  people  and  would  prefer  him  to 
Douglas.  Our  most  ultra  Southern  men  seem  to  respect 
him  and  to  have  confidence  in  his  honesty,  fairness  and  con- 
servatism. They  concede  that  he  stands  on  a  moderate  plat- 
form, that  his  antecedents  are  excellent,  and  that  he  is  not 
likely  to  invade  the  rights  of  any  one ;  but  they  can't  go  for 
him  because  he  holds  opinions  relative  to  the  rights  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  directly  opposite  to  the  Southern 
view,  still  he  is  an  open  and  candid  opponent,  and  therefore 
commands  Southern  respect." 

"  Some  of  the  most  interesting  interviews  which  Mr.  Lin- 
coln has  had,"  wrote  some  one  to  the  Baltimore  "  Patriot," 
"have  been  with  extreme  Southern  gentlemen,  who  came 
full  of  prejudice  against  him,  and  who  left  satisfied  with  his 
loyalty  to  all  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South.  I  could 
tell  you  of  some  most  interesting  cases,  but  it  is  enough  to 
know  that  the  general  sentiment  of  all  Southern  men  who 
have  conversed  with  him  is  the  same  as  that  publicly  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  Goggin,  of  Virginia;  Mr.  Perry,  of  South 
Carolina ;  Mr.  McRae,  of  North  Carolina,  and  many  others, 
who  have  not  hesitated  to  avow  their  intention  of  accepting 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election  and  holding  him  to  the  constitutional 
discharge  of  the  presidential  office.  .  .  ." 

The  most  significant  element  in  the  estimate  of  Lincoln 
which  the  country  formed  between  May  and  November  was 
the  respect  and  affection  which  was  awakened  among  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  383 

common  people.  There  sprang  up  all  ovw  the  country 
among  plain  people  a  feeling  for  him  not  unlike  that  which 
had  long  existed  in  Illinois.  The  general  distribution  made 
of  his  speeches  had  something  to  do  with  this.  There  was 
published  in  1860  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  an  edition  of  the  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas  debates  of  1858,  which  was  used  freely 
as  a  campaign  document.  Lincoln  himself  gave  away  scores 
of  these  books  to  his  friends  and  to  persons  who  came  to  him 
begging  for  an  expression  of  his  views.  To-day  copies  bear- 
ing his  autograph  are  to  be  seen,  treasured  volumes  in  the 
libraries  of  many  public  men.  The  Cooper  Union  speech 
was  published  by  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Club  of  New 
York  and  circulated  widely.  To  the  hard-working  farmer, 
mechanic,  store-keeper,  who  thought  slowly  but  surely,  and 
whose  sole  political  ambition  was  to  cast  an  honest  vote, 
these  speeches  were  like  a  personal  face-to-face  talk.  The 
argument  was  so  clear,  the  illustration  so  persuasive,  the 
statement  so  colloquial  and  natural,  that  they  could  not  get 
away  from  them.  "  Lincoln's  right,"  was  the  general  verdict 
among  masses  of  people  who,  hesitating  between  Republican- 
ism and  Popular  Sovereignty,  read  the  speeches  as  a  help  to 
a  decision. 

While  Lincoln's  speeches  awakened  respect  for  and  con- 
fidence in  his  ability,  the  story  of  his  life  stirred  something 
deeper  in  men.  Here  was  a  man  who  had  become  a  leader 
of  the^  nation  by  the  labor  of  his  hands,  the  honesty  of  his 
intellect,  the  uprightness  of  his  heart.  Plain  people  were 
touched  by  the  hardships  of  this  life  so  like  their  own,  in- 
spired by  the  thought  that  a  man  who  had  struggled  as  they 
had  done,  who  had  remained  poor,  who  had  lived  simply, 
could  be  eligible  to  the  highest  place  in  the  nation.  They 
had  believed  that  it  could  be  done.  Here  was  a  proof  of  it. 
They  told  the  story  to  their  boys.  This,  they  said,  is  what 
American  institutions  make  possible;  not  glitter  or  wealth, 


384  LIFE.  OF  LINCOLN 

trickery  or  demagogy  is  necessary,  only  honesty,  hard 
thinking,  a  fixed  purpose.  Affection  and  sympathy  for  Lin- 
coln grew  with  respect.  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  pecu- 
liar sympathetic  relation  between  him  and  the  common  peo- 
ple which  was  to  become  one  of  the  controlling  influences 
in  the  great  drama  of  the  Civil  War. 

Election  day  in  1860  fell  on  the  6th.  Springfield.,  although 
a  town  of  strong  Democratic  sympathy,  realized  the  import- 
ance of  the  occasion,  and  by  daylight  was  booming-  away  with 
cannon;  before  noon  numbers  of  bands  which  came,  the  citi- 
zens hardly  knew  from  where,  were  playing  on  the  corners 
of  every  street.  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  was  his  custom,  came  down 
to  his  room  at  the  State  House  by  eight  o'clock,  where  he 
went  over  his  big  mail  as  coolly  as  if  it  were  not  election  day 
and  he  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 
He  had  not  been  there  long  before  his  friends  began  to  flock 
in  in  such  numbers  that  it  was  proposed  that  the  doors  be 
closed  and  he  be  allowed  to  remain  by  himself,  but  he  said 
he  had  never  done  such  a  thing  in  his  life  as  to  close  the 
door  on  his  friends  and  that  he  did  not  intend  to  begin  now, 
and  so  the  day  wore  away  in  the  entertainment  of  visitors. 

It  had  not  been  Mr.  Lincoln's  intention  to  vote,  the  ob- 
stacle which  he  found  in  the  way  being  that  his  own  name 
headed  the  Republican  ticket  and  that  he  did  not  want  to 
vote  for  himself.  One  of  his  friends  suggested  that  his 
name  might  be  cut  off  and  he  vote  for  the  rest  of  the  ticket. 
He  fell  in  with  this  suggestion,  and  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  crowd  around  the  polls,  which  were  just  across 
the  street  from  his  office,  had  subsided  somewhat,  he  went 
over  to  cast  his  ballot.  He  was  recognized  immediately  and 
his  friends  were  soon  about  him,  cheering  wildly  and  con- 
tending good-naturedly  for  an  opportunity  to  shake  his  hand. 
Even  the  Democrats,  with  their  hands  full  of  documents 
which  they  were  distributing,  joined  in  this  enthusiastic 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  385 

demonstration  and  cheered  at  the  top  of  their  voices  for  their 
beloved  townsman. 

No  returns  were  expected  before  seven  o'clock,  and  it  was 
a  little  later  than  that  when  Mr.  Lincoln  returned  from  his 
supper  to  the  State  House.  The  first  despatches  that  came 
were  from  different  parts  of  Illinois,  the  very  first  being  from 
Decatur,  where  a  Republican  gain  was  announced.  Soon 
after,  Alton,  which  was  expected  to  go  for  Douglas,  sent  in 
a  majority  of  twelve  for  Lincoln.  There  was  a  tremendous 
sensation  in  the  company,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  asked  that  the 
despatch  be  sent  out  to  the  "boys,"  meaning  the  crowd  which 
had  gathered  in  and  about  the  State  House.  After  an  hour 
or  more  news  began  to  come  from  Missouri.  "  Now,"  said 
Mr.  Lincoln,  "  they  should  get  a  few  licks  back  at  us."  But 
to  everybody's  surprise,  there  was  more  good  news  from  Mis- 
souri than  had  been  expected.  Towards  midnight  news  be- 
gan to  come  from  Pennsylvania:  "Allegheny  County,  10,- 
ooo  majority  for  Lincoln;"  "  Philadelphia,  15,000  plurality, 
5,000  majority  over  all ;"  then  a  telegram  from  Simon  Cam- 
eron, "  Pennsylvania  70,000  for  you.  New  York  safe. 
Glory  enough."  This  was  the  first  news  from  New  York, 
and  since  ten  o'clock  the  company  had  been  waiting  impa- 
tiently for  it.  A  fusion  ticket,  it  was  feared,  might  go 
through  there,  and  if  it  did  the  disaster  to  the  Republicans 
would  be  serious. 

While  waiting  anxiously  for  something  definite  from  New 
York,  a  delegation  of  Springfield  ladies  came  in  to  invite 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  friends  to  a  hall  near  by,  where  they 
had  prepared  refreshments  for  all  the  Republican  politicians 
of  the  town.  The  party  had  not  been  there  long  before  there 
came  a  telegram  announcing  that  New  York  city  had  gone 
Republican.  Such  a  cheering  was  probably  never  heard  in 
Springfield  before.  The  hall  full  of  people,  beside  them- 
selves with  joy,  began  a  romping  promenade  around  the 
(35) 


386  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

tables,  singing  at  the  top  of  their  voices  the  popular  cam- 
paign song,  "  Oh  ain't  you  glad  you  joined  the  Republi- 
cans?" Here  at  intervals  further  telegrams  came  from  New 
York,  all  announcing  large  majorities.  The  scene  became 
one  of  the  wildest  excitement,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his 
friends  soon  withdrew  to  a  little  telegraph  office  on  the 
square,  where  they  could  receive  reports  more  quietly.  Up 
to  this  time  the  only  anxiety  Mr.  Lincoln  had  shown  about 
the  election  was  in  the  returns  from  his  State  and  town. 
He  didn't  "  feel  quite  easy,"  as  he  said,  "  about  Spring- 
field." Towards  morning,  however,  the  announcement 
came  that  he  had  a  majority  in  his  own  precinct.  Then  it 
was  that  he  showed  the  first  emotion,  a  jubilant  chuckle,  and 
soon  after  he  remarked  cheerfully  to  his  friends,  that  he 
"  guess'd  he'd  go  home  now,"  which  he  did.  But  Spring- 
field was  not  content  to  go  home.  Cannon  banged  until  day- 
light, and  on  every  street  corner  and  in  every  alley  could  be 
heard  groups  of  men  shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices, 
"  Oh,  ain't  you  glad  you  joined  the  Republicans?  " 

Twenty-four  hours  later  and  the  full  result  of  that  Tues- 
day's work  was  known.  Out  of  303  electoral  votes,  Lincoln 
had  received  180.  Of  the  popular  vote  he  had  received 
1,866,452 — nearly  a  half  million  over  Douglas,  a  million 
over  Breckenridge,  a  million  and  a  quarter  over  Bell.  It  was 
a  victory,  but  there  were  facts  about  the  victory  which 
startled  the  thoughtful.  If  Lincoln  had  more  votes  than  any 
one  opposing  candidate,  they  together  had  nearly  1,000,000 
over  him.  Fifteen  States  of  the  Union  gave  him  no  electoral 
votes,  and  in  ten  States  he  had  not  received  a  single  popular 
vote, 


CHAPTER  XXI 

MR.    LINCOLN   AS   PRESIDENT-ELECT 

ALTHOUGH  the  election  of  November  6  made  Lincoln  the 
President-elect  of  the  United  States,  for  four  months,  he 
could  exercise  no  direct  influence  on  the  affairs  of  the  coun- 
try. If  the  South  tried  to  make  good  her  threat  to  secede 
in  case  he  was  elected,  he  could  do  nothing  to  restrain  her. 
The  South  did  try,  and  at  once.  With  the  very  election  re- 
turns the  telegraph  brought  Lincoln  news  of  disruption. 
Day  by  day  this  news  continued,  and  always  more  alarming. 
On  November  10,  the  United  States  senators  from  South 
Carolina  resigned.  Six  weeks  later,  that  State  passed  an  or- 
dinance of  secession  and  began  to  organize  an  independent 
government.  By  the  end  of  December,  the  only  remnant  of 
United  States  authority  in  South  Carolina  was  the  small 
garrison  commanded  by  Major  Anderson  which  occupied 
Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  harbor.  The  remaining  forts  and 
batteries  of  that  harbor,  the  lighthouse  tender,  the  arsenal, 
the  post-office,  the  custom-house,  in  short,  everything  in  the 
State  over  which  the  Stars  and  Stripes  had  floated,  was  un- 
der the  Palmetto  Flag. 

In  his  quiet  office  in  Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  read,  in 
January,  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  conventions  in  Mis- 
sissippi, Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  Louisiana,  by  all  of 
which  States,  in  that  month,  ordinances  of  secession  were 
adopted.  In  February,  he  saw  representatives  of  these  same 
States  unite  in  a  general  convention  at  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama, and  the  newspapers  told  him  how  promptly  and  in* 

387 


388  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

telligently  they  went  to  work  to  found  a  new  nation,  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  to  provide  it  with  a  constitution,  and 
to  give  it  officers. 

Mr.  Lincoln  observed  that  each  State,  as  she  went  out  of 
the  Union,  prepared  to  defend  her  course  if  necessary.  On 
November  18,  Georgia  appropriated  $1,000,000  to  arm 
the  State,  and  in  January  she  seized  Forts  Pulaski  and  Jack- 
son and  the  United  States  arsenal.  Louisiana  appropriated 
all  the  federal  property  in  her  borders,  even  to  the  mint  and 
custom-house  and  the  money  they  contained.  Georgia, 
Florida,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  were  not  behind  in  their 
seizures,  and  when  the  new  government  was  formed  at  Mont- 
gomery, it  promptly  took  up  the  question  of  defending  its 
life. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  only  obliged  to  sit  inactive  and  watch 
this  steady  dissolution  of  the  Union,  but  he  was  obliged  to 
see  what  was  still  harder — that  the  administration  which  he 
was  to  succeed  was  doing  nothing  to  check  the  destruction- 
ists.  Indeed,  all  through  this  period  proof  accumulated  that 
members  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  cabinet  had  been  systematically 
working  for  many  months  to  disarm  the  North  and  equip 
the  South.  The  quantity  of  arms  sent  quietly  from  North- 
ern arsenals  was  so  great  that  the  citizens  of  the  towns  from 
which  they  went  became  alarmed.  Thus  the  Springfield 
"  Republican  "  of  January  2,  1861,  noted  that  the  citizens  of 
that  town  were  growing  excited  over  "the  procession  of 
government  licenses  which,  during  the  last  spring  and  sum- 
mer, and  also  quite  recently,  have  been  engaged  in  transport- 
ing from  the  United  States  Armory  to  the  United  States 
freight  station,  an  immense  quantity  of  boxes  of  muskets 
marked  for  Southern  distribution."  "  We  find,"  the  paper 
continues,  "  that  in  1860  there  were  removed  for  safe-keep- 
ing in  other  arsenals  135,430  government  arms.  This  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  distribution  occasionally  made  for 


MR-  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      389 

State  militia."  And  when,  in  December,  the  citizens  of 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  found  that  123  cannon  had  been 
ordered  South  from  the  arsenal  there,  they  made  such  ener- 
getic protests  that  President  Buchanan  was  obliged  to  coun- 
termand the  order  of  his  Secretary  of  War. 

The  rapid  disintegration  which  followed  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  filled  the  North  with  dismay.  There  was  a  gen- 
eral demand  for  some  compromise  which  would  reassure 
the  South  and  stop  secession.  It  was  the  place  of  the  He- 
publicans,  the  conservatives  argued,  to  make  this  compro- 
mise. A  furious  clamor  broke  over  Mr.  Lincoln's  head.  His 
election  had  caused  the  trouble;  now  what  would  he  do  to 
quell  it?  How  much  of  the  Republican  platform  would  he 
give  up?  Among  the  newspapers  which  pleaded  with  the 
President-elect  to  do  something  to  reassure  the  South  the 
most  able  was  the  New  York  "  Herald."  Lincoln  was  a 
"  sectional  President,"  declared  the  "  Herald,"  who,  out  of 
4,700,000  votes  cast,  had  received  but  1,850,000,  and  whom 
the  South  had  had  no  part  in  electing. 

If  Mr.  Lincoln  intends  to  carry  on  the  government  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Chicago  platform 
and  the  documents  issued  under  the  authority  of  the  Re- 
publican "  national "  committee,  the  inevitable  tendency  of 
his  administration  will  be  to  encourage  servile  insurrections 
and  to  make  the  Southern  States  still  more  uncomfortable 
within  the  Union  than  they  could  by  any  possibility  be  with- 
out it.  ...  If  the  new  President  recognizes  the  fact 
that  he  is  not  bound  by  the  Chicago  platform — the  people 
having  repudiated  it ;  .  .  .  if  he  comes  out  and  tells  the 
people  that  he  will  govern  the  country  according  to  the  views 
of  the  majority,  and  not  to  serve  the  purposes  of  the  mi- 
nority, all  may  yet  be  well.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln  must 
throw  his  pledges  to  the  winds,  let  his  party  go  to  perdition 
in  its  own  way,  and  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  the  whole 
country.  It  is  Mr.  Lincoln's  bounden  duty  to  come  out  now 
and  declare  his  views. 


390 


LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 


It  was  not  only  the  opposition  press  which  urged  Lincoln 
to  offer  some  kind  of  compromise;  many  frightened  Repub- 
lican newspapers  added  their  influence.  The  appeals  of  thou- 
sands of  letters  and  of  scores  of  visitors  were  added  to  the 
arguments  of  the  press.  Lincoln,  however,  refused  to  ex- 
press his  views  anew.  "  I  know  the  justness  of  my  inten- 
tions," he  told  an  interviewer  in  November,  "  and  the  utter 
groundlessness  of  the  pretended  fears  of  the  men  who  are 
rilling  the  country  with  their  clamor.  If  I  go  into  the  presi- 
dency, they  will  find  me  as  I  am  on  record,  nothing  less, 
nothing  more.  My  declarations  have  been  made  to  the  world 
without  reservation.  They  have  been  often  repeated,  and 
now  self-respect  demands  of  me  and  of  the  party  which  has 
elected  me  that,  when  threatened,  I  should  be  silent." 

Business  was  brought  almost  to  a  standstill  throughout 
the  North  by  the  prospect  of  disunion.  "  It  is  an  awful  time 
for  merchants,"  wrote  a  correspondent  to  Charles  Sumner, 
"  worse  than  in  1857.  And  if  there  is  not  some  speedy  relief, 
more  than  half  of  the  best  concerns  in  the  country  will  be 
ruined."  Numbers  of  prominent  men  urged  the  President- 
elect to  say  something  conciliatory  for  the  sake  of  trade.  His 
replies  published  in  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "  Abraham  Lincoln  " 
are  marked  by  spirit  and  decision.  To  one  man  of  wealth 
he  wrote  on  November  10 : 

I  am  not  insensible  to  any  commercial  or  financial  depres- 
sion that  may  exist,  but  nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  fawning 
around  the  "  respectable  scoundrels  "  who  got  it  up.  Let 
them  go  to  work  and  repair  the  mischief  of  their  own  mak- 
ing, and  then  perhaps  they  will  be  less  greedy  to  do  the  like 
again. 

And  to  Henry  J.  Raymond,  the  editor  of  the  New  York 
"  Times,"  he  gave,  on  November  28,  in  answer  to  a  request 
for  his  views,  what  he  called  a  "  demonstration  "  of  the  cor- 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       391 

rectness  of  his  judgment  that  he  should  say  nothing  for  the 
public : 

On  the  2Oth  instant,  Senator  Trumbull  made  a  short 
speech,  which  I  suppose  you  have  both  seen  and  approved. 
Has  a  single  newspaper,  heretofore  against  us,  urged  that 
speech  upon  its  readers  with  a  purpose  to  quiet  public 
anxiety  ?  Not  one,  so  far  as  I  know.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Boston  "  Courier  "  and  its  class  hold  me  responsible  for  that 
speech,  and  endeavor  to  inflame  the  North  with  the  belief 
that  it  foreshadows  an  abandonment  of  Republican  ground 
by  the  incoming  administration  while  the  Washington  "  Con- 
stitution "  and  its  class  hold  the  same  speech  up  to  the  South 
as  an  open  declaration  of  war  against  them.  This  is  just  as 
I  expected,  and  just  what  would  happen  with  any  declaration 
I  could  make.  These  political  fiends  are  not  half  sick  enough 
yet.  Party  malice,  and  not  public  good,  possesses  them  en- 
tirely. "  They  seek  a  sign,  and  no  sign  shall  be  given  them/' 
At  least  such  is  my  present  feeling  and  purpose. 

While  refusing  positively  to  express  himself  for  the  gen- 
eral public  at  this  time,  Lincoln  wrote  and  talked  freely  to 
the  Republican  leaders,  almost  all  of  whom  were  busy  with 
one  or  another  scheme  for  quieting  the  distracted  nation. 
On  the  opening  of  Congress,  a  committee  of  thirty-three  had 
been  appointed  by  the  House  to  consider  "  the  present  peril- 
ous condition  of  the  country/*  and  the  Republican  members 
wished  to  know  what  Mr.  Lincoln  would  yield.  The  Hon. 
William  Kellogg,  the  Illinois  member  of  the  committee, 
wrote  to  him.  His  reply,  dated  December  n,  is  unmis- 
takable: 

Entertain  no  proposition  for  a  compromise  in  regard  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  The  instant  you  do,  they  have  us 
under  again :  all  our  labor  is  lost,  and  sooner  or  later  must 
be  done  over.  Douglas  is  sure  to  be  again  trying  to  bring 
in  his  "  popular  sovereignty."  Have  none  of  it  The  tug 
has  to  come,  and  better  now  thar  later.  You  know  I  think 


392  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

the  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  en- 
forced— to  put  it  in  its  mildest  form,  ought  not  to  be  re- 
sisted. 

While  the  committee  of  thirty-three  was  seeking  grounds 
for  a  settlement  in  the  House,  a  committee  of  thirteen  was 
busy  in  the  Senate  in  the  same  search.  On  the  latter  com- 
mittee was  William  H.  Seward,  and  he  too  sent  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln for  a  suggestion.  In  reply,  the  President-elect  sent  Mr. 
Seward,  by  Thurlow  Weed,  a  memorandum  which  was  sup- 
posed to  have  been  lost  until  a  few  months  ago  when  it  was 
discovered  by  Mr.  Frederick  Bancroft  in  course  of  his  re- 
searches for  a  Life  of  Seward.  Two  points  are  covered  in 
this  memorandum.  The  first  that  the  fugitive  slave  law 
should  be  enforced,  the  second  that  the  Federal  Union  must 
be  preserved.  In  a  letter  to  the  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  writ- 
ten on  December  I3th,  Lincoln  again  stated  his  views  on 
slavery  extension : 

Prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  any  of  our  friends  from  demor- 
alizing themselves  and  our  cause  by  entertaining  propositions 
for  compromise  of  any  sort  on  "  slavery  extension."  There 
is  no  possible  compromise  upon  it  but  which  puts  us  under 
again  and  leaves  all  our  work  to  do  over  again.  Whether 
it  be  a  Missouri  line  or  Eli  Thayer's  popular  sovereignty,  it 
is  all  the  same.  Let  either  be  done,  and  immediately  filibus- 
tering and  extending  slavery  recommences.  On  that  point 
hold  firm,  as  with  a  chain  of  steel. 

These  counsels  were  given  while  secession  was  still  in  its 
infancy.  The  alarming  developments  which  followed  did 
not  cause  Lincoln  to  waver.  On  January  n,  he  wrote  to 
the  Hon.  J.  T.  Hale  a  letter  published  by  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
in  which  he  said : 

What  is  our  present  condition?  We  have  just  carried  an 
election  on  principles  fairly  stated  to  the  people.  Now  we 
are  told  in  advance  the  government  shall  be  broken  up  unless 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       393 

we  surrender  to  those  we  have  beaten,  before  we  take  the 
offices.  In  this  they  are  either  attempting  to  play  upon  us 
or  they  are  in  dead  earnest.  Either  way,  if  we  surrender, 
it  is  the  end  of  us  and  of  the  government.  They  will  repeat 
the  experiment  upon  us  ad  libitum.  A  year  will  not  pass  till 
we  shall  have  to  take  Cuba  as  a  condition  upon  which  they 
will  stay  in  the  Union.  They  now  have  the  Constitution 
under  which  we  have  lived  over  seventy  years,  and  acts  of 
Congress  of  their  own  framing,  with  no  prospect  of  their 
being  changed ;  and  they  can  never  have  a  more  shallow  pre- 
text for  breaking  up  the  government,  or  extorting  a  compro- 
mise, than  now.  There  is,  in  my  judgment,  but  one  compro- 
mise which  would  really  settle  the  slavery  question,  and  that 
would  be  a  prohibition  against  acquiring  any  more  territory. 

It  was  not  the  North  and  the  Republicans  alone  that  ap- 
pealed to  Mr.  Lincoln ;  the  Unionists  of  the  South  urged  him 
for  an  explanation  which  they  might  present  to  the  people 
as  proof  that  there  was  nothing  to  fear  from  his  election. 
Lincoln  had  no  faith  that  any  expression  of  his  would  be 
heeded ;  yet  he  did,  confidentially,  express  himself  frankly  to 
many  Southerners  who  came  to  him  in  Springfield,  and 
there  are  two  letters  of  his  published  by  Nicolay  and  Hay 
which  show  how  completely  he  grasped  the  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  with  what  jus- 
tice and  kindness  he  put  the  case  to  those  who  disagreed  with 
him.  The  first  of  these  letters  was  written  to  John  A.  Gil- 
mer,  a  member  of  Congress  from  North  Carolina,  who  de- 
sired earnestly  to  preserve  the  Union,  but  not  unless  the 
opinions  of  the  South  were  considered.  Mr.  Gilmer  had 
written  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  asking  his  position  on  certain  ques- 
tions. Lincoln  replied: 

Carefully  read  pages  18,  19,  74,  75,  88,  89,  and  267  of 
the  volume  of  joint  debates  between  Senator  Douglas  and 
myself,  with  the  Republican  platform  adopted  at  Chicago, 
and  all  your  questions  will  be  substantially  answered.  I  have 


394  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

ao  thought  of  recommending  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  nor  the  slave-trade  among  the  slave 
States,  even  on  the  conditions  indicated;  and  if  I  were  to 
make  such  recommendation,  it  is  quite  clear  Congress  would 
not  follow  it. 

As  to  employing  slaves  in  arsenals  and  dock-yards,  it  is  a 
thing  I  never  thought  of  in  my  life,  to  my  recollection,  till  I 
saw  your  letter ;  and  I  may  say  of  it  precisely  as  I  have  said 
of  the  two  points  above. 

As  to  the  use  of  patronage  in  the  slave  States,  where  there 
are  few  or  no  Republicans,  I  do  not  expect  to  inquire  for  the 
politics  of  the  appointee,  or  whether  he  does  or  not  own 
slaves.  I  intend,  in  that  matter,  to  accommodate  the  people 
in  the  several  localities,  if  they  themselves  will  allow  me  to 
accommodate  them.  In  one  word,  I  never  have  been,  am 
not  now,  and  probably  never  shall  be  in  a  mood  of  harassing 
the  people  either  North  or  South. 

On  the  territorial  question  I  am  inflexible,  as  you  see  my 
position  in  the  book.  On  that  there  is  a  difference  between 
you  and  us;  and  it  is  the  only  substantial  difference.  You 
think  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended;  we  think 
it  is  wrong  and  ought  to  be  restricted.  For  this  neither  has 
any  just  occasion  to  be  angry  with  the  other. 

As  to  the  State  laws  mentioned  in  your  sixth  question,  I 
really  know  very  little  of  them.  I  never  have  read  one.  If 
any  of  them  are  in  conflict  with  the  fugitive-slave  clause,  or 
any  other  part  of  the  Constitution,  I  certainly  shall  be  glad 
of  their  repeal ;  but  I  could  hardly  be  justified,  as  a  citizen  of 
Illinois,  or  as  President  of  the  United  States,  to  recommend 
the  repeal  of  a  statute  of  Vermont  or  South  Carolina. 

A  week  later,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  to  A.  H.  Stephens,  of 
Georgia,  in  reply  to  a  note  in  which  Stephens  had  said :  "  The 
country  is  certainly  in  great  peril,  and  no  man  ever  had 
heavier  or  greater  responsibilities  resting  upon  him  than  you 
have  in  the  present  momentous  crisis." 

I  fully  appreciate  the  present  peril  the  country  is  in,  and 
the  weight  of  responsibility  on  me.  Do  the  people  of  the 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       395 

South  really  entertain  fears  that  a  Republican  administration 
would,  directly  or  indirectly,  interfere  with  the  slaves,  or 
with  them  about  the  slaves?  If  they  do,  I  wish  to  assure 
you,  as  once  a  friend,  and  still,  I  hope,  not  an  enemy,  that 
there  is  no  cause  for  such  fears.  The  South  would  be  in  no 
more  danger  in  this  respect  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Wash- 
ington. I  suppose,  however,  this  does  not  meet  the  case. 
You  think  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while 
we  think  it  is  wrong  and  ought  to  be  restricted.  That,  I 
suppose,  is  the  rub.  It  certainly  is  the  only  substantial  differ- 
ence between  us. 

The  uproar  which  raged  about  Mr.  Lincoln  soon  became 
quite  as  loud  over  "  coercion  "  as  over  "  compromise."  Each 
passing  week  made  conciliation  more  difficult,  saw  new  ele- 
ments of  disunion  realized.  What  was  to  be  done  with  the 
seceding  States  ?  What  was  to  be  done  about  the  forts  and 
arsenals,  custom-houses  and  post-offices,  they  were  seizing? 
If  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  compromise,  was  he  going  to  let 
the  States  and  the  federal  property  go,  or  was  he  going  to 
compel  them  to  return  with  it  ?  Did  he  propose  to  coerce  the 
South?  Though  the  President-elect  refused  to  give  any 
expression  of  opinion  on  the  subject  to  the  country,  it  was 
not  because  he  was  not  perfectly  clear  in  his  own  mind.  Se- 
cession he  considered  impossible.  "  My  opinion  is,"  he  wrote 
Thurlow  Weed  on  December  17,  "that  no  State  can  in 
any  way  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  without  the  consent 
of  the  others ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  President  and 
other  government  functionaries  to  run  the  machine  as  it  is." 

When  Horace  Greeley  began  a  series  of  editorials  in  the 
"  Tribune  "  contending  that  if  seren  or  eight  States  sent 
agents  to  Washington  saying,  "  We  want  to  get  out  of  the 
Union,"  he  should  feel  constrained  by  his  devotion  to  Human 
Liberty  to  say  "  Let  them  go,"  Lincoln  said  nothing  publicly, 
though  in  Springfield  it  was  believed  that  he  considered  the 
policy  "  dangerous  and  illogical."  He  certainly  was  only 


396  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

amused  at  Fernando  Wood's  scheme  to  take  New  York  City 
out  of  the  Union  and  make  it  a  free  city — another  Hamburg. 
"  I  reckon,"  he  said  to  a  New  Yorker  in  February,  in  dis- 
cussing the  subject,  "  that  it  will  be  some  time  before  the 
front  door  sets  up  house-keeping  on  its  own  account." 

As  to  the  forts  and  other  federal  property  seized  by  the 
outgoing  States,  he  seems  to  have  felt  from  the  first  that  they 
were  to  be  retaken.  In  this  matter  he  sought  guidance  from 
Andrew  Jackson.  Less  than  a  week  after  his  election,  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  "  Evening  Post "  found  him  engaged  in 
reading  the  history  of  the  nullifiers  of  1832  and  1833  and  of 
the  summary  way  in  which  "  Old  Hickory  "  dealt  with  them. 
In  December,  he  wrote  to  his  friend  E.  B.  Washburne,  who 
had  just  reported  to  him  an  interview  with  General  Scott, 
the  general  in  command  of  the  army,  on  the  dangers  of  the 
situation : 

Please  present  my  respects  to  the  General,  and  tell  him, 
confidentially,  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  him  to  be  as  well 
prepared  as  he  can  to  either  hold  or  retake  the  forts,  as  the 
case  may  require,  at  and  after  the  inauguration. 

And  the  very  next  day,  he  wrote  to  Major  David  Hunter : 

The  most  we  can  do  now  is  to  watch  events,  and  be  as 
well  prepared  as  possible  for  any  turn  things  may  take.  If 
the  forts  fall,  my  judgment  is  that  they  are  to  be  retaken. 

From  the  foregoing  letters  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  stripped  his  opinions  on  the  questions  of  the  day  of  all 
verbiage  and  non-essentials  and  reduced  them  to  the  follow- 
ing simple  propositions. 

(1)  Slavery  is  wrong,  and  must  not  be  extended. 

(2)  Entertain  no  proposition  for  a  compromise  in  regard 
to  the  extension  of  slavery. 

(3)  No  State  can  in  any  way  lawfully  get  out  of  the 
Union,  without  the  consent  of  the  others.     It  is  the  duty  of 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       397 

the  President  and  other  government  functionaries  to  run  the 
machine  as  it  is. 

(4)  If  the  forts  fall,  my  judgment  is  that  they  are  to  be 
retaken. 

To  these  simple  statements  he  stuck  throughout  this  pe- 
riod of  confusion  and  distress,  refusing  to  allow  them  to  be 
obscured  by  words  and  passion,  and  making  them  his  guide 
in  the  work  of  preparation  for  his  inauguration. 

Three  things  especially  occupied  him  in  this  preparation : 
( I )  Making  the  acquaintance  of  the  men  with  whom  he  was 
to  be  associated  in  the  administration.  (2)  His  cabinet. 
(3)  His  inaugural  address. 

The  first  letter  Lincoln  wrote  after  his  election  was  to 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  Vice-President-elect,  asking  for  an 
interview.  The  two  gentlemen  met  at  the  Tremont  House, 
Chicago,  on  November  23.  Mr.  Hamlin  once  gave  to  a 
friend,  Mr.  C.  J.  Prescott,  of  New  York,  an  account  of  this 
meeting,  which  Mr.  Prescott  has  written  out  for  this  work : 

Mr.  Hamlin  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Waterville  College  now  Colby  University, 
Waterville,  Maine.  On  one  of  the  annual  Commencement 
occasions,  I  found  him  one  afternoon  seated  on  the  piazza 
of  the  Elmwood,  for  the  moment  alone  and  unoccupied. 
Taking  a  chair  by  his  side,  I  said :  "  Mr.  Hamlin,  when  did 
you  first  meet  Mr.  Lincoln?"  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  very 
plainly  recall  the  circumstances  of  our  first  meeting.  It  was 
in  Chicago.  Some  time  before  the  inauguration,  I  received 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  asking  me  to  see  him  before  I 
went  to  Washington.  So  I  went  to  Chicago,  where  I  was  to 
meet  Mr.  Lincoln.  Sending  my  card  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  room, 
I  received  word  to  '  come  right  up.'  I  found  the  door  open, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  approaching  with  extended  hand.  With  a 
hearty  welcome,  he  said,  '  I  think  I  have  never  met  you  be- 
fore, Mr.  Hamlin,  but  this  is  not  the  first  time  I  have  seen 
you.  I  have  just  been  recalling  the  time  when,  in  '48, 1  went 
co  the  Senate  to  hear  you  speak.  Your  subject  was  not  new, 


398  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

but  the  ideas  were  sound.  You  were  talking  about  slavery, 
and  I  now  take  occasion  to  thank  you  for  so  well  expressing 
what  were  my  own  sentiments  at  that  time/ 

"  '  Well,  Mr.  President/  said  I,  '  this  is  certainly  quite  a 
remarkable  coincidence.  I  myself  have  just  been  recalling 
the  first  time  I  ever  saw  you.  It  must  have  been  about  the 
same  time  to  which  you  allude.  I  was  passing  through  the 
House,  and  was  attracted  by  some  remarks  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  from  one  of  the  new  members.  They  told  me  it 
was  Lincoln,  of  Illinois.  I  heard  you  through,  and  I  very 
well  remember  how  heartily  I  endorsed  every  point  you 
made.  And,  Mr.  President,  I  have  no  doubt  we  are  still  in 
perfect  accord  on  the  main  question.'  " 

The  result  of  the  Chicago  interview  was  a  cordial  under- 
standing between  the  two  men  which  lasted  throughout  their 
administration.  This  was  to  be  expected,  for  they  were  not 
unlike  in  character  and  experience.  The  same  kind  of  demo- 
cratic feeling  inspired  their  relations  with  others.  Both 
"  marched  with  the  boys."  Both  were  eminently  compan- 
ionable. Hamlin  liked  a  good  story  as  well  as  Lincoln,  and 
told  almost  as  many.  He  had,  too,  the  same  quaint  way  of 
putting  things.  Like  Lincoln,  Hamlin  had  been  born  poor, 
and  had  had  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  to  get  up  in  the  world. 
He  had  worked  on  a  farm,  chopped  logs,  taught  school, 
^studied  law  at  night;  in  short,  turned  his  hand  cheerfully 
and  eagerly  to  anything  that  would  help  him  to  realize  his 
ambitions.  Like  Lincoln,  he  had  gone  early  into  politics, 
and,  like  Lincoln  again,  he  had  revolted  from  his  party  in 
1856  to  join  the  Republicans. 

A  great  many  men  were  summoned  to  Springfield  by  Lin- 
coln, in  order  that  he  might  learn  their  views  more  perfectly. 
Among  those  who  came,  either  by  his  direct  or  indi- 
rect invitation,  were  Edward  Bates,  Thurlow  Weed, 
David  Wilmot,  A.  K.  McClure,  George  W.  Julian, 
E.  D.  Baker,  William  Sweeney,  Horace  Greeley,  and  Carl 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       399 

Schurz.  With  many  of  them  Lincoln  did  not  hesitate  to 
talk  over  his  cabinet.  Thurlow  Weed  says  that  when  he 
visited  the  President-elect  in  December,  the  latter  introduced 
the  subject  of  the  cabinet,  saying  that  "  he  supposed  I  had 
had  some  experience  in  cabinet-making,  that  he  had  a  job 
on  hand,  and  as  he  had  never  learned  that  trade,  he  was  dis- 
posed to  avail  himself  of  the  suggestions  of  friends."  "  The 
making  of  a  cabinet,"  he  continued,  "  now  that  he  had  it  to 
do,  was  by  no  means  as  easy  as  he  had  supposed ;  that  he  had, 
even  before  the  result  of  the  election  was  known,  assuming 
the  probability  of  success,  fixed  upon  the  two  leading  mem- 
bers of  his  cabinet;  but  that,  in  looking  about  for  suitable 
men  to  fill  the  other  departments,  he  had  been  much  embar- 
rassed, partly  from  his  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  promi- 
nent men  of  the  day,  and  partly,  he  believed,  because  that, 
while  the  population  had  greatly  increased,  really  great  men 
were  scarcer  than  they  used  to  be." 

The  two  members  of  his  cabinet  on  whom  Lincoln  fixed 
so  early  were  Seward  and  Chase.  He  wrote  Seward  on  De- 
cember 8,  asking  permission  to  nominate  him  as  Secretary 
of  State,  and  saying : 

It  has  been  my  purpose,  from  the  day  of  the  nomination 
at  Chicago,  to  assign  you,  by  your  leave,  this  place  in  the 
administration.  I  have  delayed  so  long  to  communicate  that 
purpose  in  deference  to  what  appeared  to  me  a  proper  cau- 
tion in  the  case.  Nothing  has  been  developed  to  change  my 
view  in  the  premises ;  and  I  now  offer  you  the  place,  in  the 
hope  that  you  will  accept  it,  and  with  the  belief  that  your  po- 
sition in  the  public  eye,  your  integrity,  ability,  learning,  and 
great  experience,  all  combine  to  render  it  an  appointment 
pre-eminently  fit  to  be  made. 

Seward  took  three  weeks  to  consider,  and  finally,  on 
December  28,  wrote  that,  "after  due  reflection  and  much 
self -distrust,"  he  had  concluded  it  was  his  duty  to  accept. 


400  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Lincoln  did  not  approach  Chase  on  the  subject  of  the  cabi- 
net until  some  three  weeks  after  he  had  written  Seward. 
Then,  on  December  31,  he  wrote  him  this  brief  note: 

In  these  troublous  times  I  would  much  like  a  conference 
with  you.  Please  visit  me  here  at  once. 

Chase  reached  Springfield  on  the  evening  of  January  3, 
and  Lincoln,  in  his  informal  way,  went  to  the  hotel  to  see 
him.  Chase  afterward  described  the  interview  in  a  letter  to 
a  friend : 

He  said  he  had  felt  bound  to  offer  the  position  of  Secretary 
of  State  to  Mr.  Seward  as  the  generally  recognized  leader 
of  the  Republican  party,  intending,  if  he  declined  it,  to  offer 
it  to  me.  He  did  not  wish  that  Mr.  Seward  should  decline 
it,  and  was  glad  that  he  had  accepted,  and  now  desired  to 
have  me  take  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Chase  did  not  promise  to  accept,  only  to  think  it  over,  and 
so  the  situation  stood  until  the  appointment  was  actually 
made  in  March. 

It  was  Pennsylvania  and  the  South  that  gave  Lincoln  the 
greatest  trouble.  "  Pennsylvania,"he  told  Weed,  "  any  more 
than  New  York  or  Ohio,  cannot  be  overlooked.  Her  strong 
Republican  vote,  not  less  than  her  numerical  importance,  en- 
titles her  to  a  representative  in  the  cabinet."  After  a  careful 
"  balancing  of  matters,"  as  he  called  it,  he  concluded  to  ap- 
point Simon  Cameron  as  the  Pennsylvania  cabinet  member, 
and  on  December  31  he  gave  Cameron,  who  had  been  for 
three  days  in  Springfield  discussing  the  situation,  the  fol- 
lowing letter : 

HON.  SIMON  CAMERON. 

My  dear  Sir:  I  think  fit  to  notify  you  now  that,  by  your 
permission,  I  shall  at  the  proper  time  nominate  you  to  the 
United  States  Senate  for  confirmation  as  Secretary  of  the 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       401 

Treasury,  or  as  Secretary  of  War — which  of  the  two  I  have 
not  yet  definitely  decided.  Please  answer  at  your  earliest 
convenience.  Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Cameron  had  scarcely  reached  home  with  his  letter  before 
those  opposed  to  him  in  Pennsylvania  had  frightened  Lin- 
coln into  believing  that  the  lack  of  trust  in  Cameron's  politi- 
cal honesty  which  existed  throughout  the  country  would 
destroy  faith  in  the  new  cabinet.  Lincoln  immediately  wrote 
Cameron  that  things  had  developed  which  made  it  impossible 
to  take  him  into  the  cabinet.  Later  he  assured  Cameron  that 
the  withdrawal  did  not  spring  from  any  change  of  view  as  to 
the  ability  or  faithfulness  with  which  he  would  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  place,  and  he  promised  not  to  make  a  cabinet 
appointment  for  Pennsylvania  without  consulting  him  and 
giving  all  the  weight  he  consistently  could  to  his  views  and 
wishes.  There  the  matter  remained  until  March. 

Among  conciliatory  Republicans  there  was  a  strong  de- 
sire that  Lincoln  find  a  member  of  his  cabinet  in  the  South. 
It  was  believed  that  such  an  act  would  be  taken  as  proof  that 
the  new  President  intended  to  consider  the  claims  of  the 
South.  Lincoln  did  not  believe  the  idea  practical,  and  he 
showed  the  difficulties  in  the  way  very  shrewdly  by  causing 
to  be  inserted,  on  December  12,  in  the  "  Illinois  Journal,"  a 
paper  popularly  called  his  "  organ,"  the  following  short  edi- 
torial : 

We  hear  such  frequent  allusions  to  a  supposed  purpose  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  call  into  his  cabinet  two  or  three 
Southern  gentlemen  from  the  parties  opposed  to  him  politi- 
cally, that  we  are  prompted  to  ask  a  few  questions. 

First.  Is  it  known  that  any  such  gentlemen  of  character 
would  accept  a  place  in  the  cabinet? 

Second.  If  yea,  on  what  terms  does  he  surrender  to  Mr. 
Lincoln.*  or  Mr  Lincoln  to  him,  on  the  political  differences 


402  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

between  them;  or  do  they  enter  upon  the  administration  in 
open  opposition  to  each  other  ? 

The  demand  continued,  however.  Weed  told  Lincoln  in 
December  that,  in  his  opinion,  at  least  two  of  the  members 
of  the  cabinet  should  be  from  the  South.  Lincoln  was  doubt- 
ful if  they  could  be  trusted.  "  There  are  men  in  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,"  replied  Weed, 
"  for  whose  loyalty  under  any  circumstances,  and  in  any 
event,  I  would  vouch." 

"  Well,"  said  Lincoln,  "  let  me  have  the  names  of  your 
white  blackbirds."  Weed  gave  him  four  names.  Mr. 
Seward,  a  little  later,  suggested  several,  and  Mr.  Greeley 
likewise  sent  him  a  list  of  five  Southerners  whom  he  declared 
it  would  be  safe  to  take  into  the  official  family.  Of  all  those 
named,  Lincoln  preferred  John  A.  Gilmer,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  he  invited  him  to  come  to  Springfield  for  an  inter- 
view. As  late  as  January  12,  he  wrote  to  Seward : 

I  still  hope  Mr.  Gilmer  will,  on  a  fair  understanding  with 
us,  consent  to  take  a  place  in  the  cabinet.  ...  I  fear,  if  we 
could  get,  we  could  not  safely  take  more  than  one  such  man — 
that  is,  not  more  than  one  who  opposed  us  in  the  election,  the 
danger  being  to  lose  the  confidence  of  our  own  friends. 

Mr.  Gilmer  did  not  accept  Mr.  Lincoln's  invitation  to 
Springfield,  however,  and  nothing  ever  came  of  the  overture 
made  him.  The  nearest  approach  Lincoln  made  to  selecting 
a  cabinet  member  from  the  South  was  in  the  appointment  of 
Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri.  He  was  one  of  the  men  whom 
Lincoln  had  decided  upon  as  soon  as  he  knew  of  his  election, 
and  he  was  the  first  after  Seward  to  be  notified.  A  repre- 
sentative from  Indiana  was  desirable,  and  Caleb  Smith  was 
put  on  the  slate  provisionally.  It  was  necessary,  too,  that 
New  England  have  a  place  in  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
three  candidates,  of  all  of  whom  he  thought  well — Tuck,  of 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      405 

New  Hampshire;  Banks,  of  Massachusetts ;  Gideon  Welles, 
of  Connecticut;  but  he  made  no  decision  until  after  he 
reached  Washington. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  1861,  Lincoln  began  to 
prepare  his  inaugural  address.  A  more  desperate  situation 
than  existed  at  that  moment  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine. 
Thus  far  every  peace  measure  had  failed,  and  the  endless 
discussions  of  press  and  senate  chamber  were  daily  increasing 
the  anger  and  the  bewilderment  of  the  people.  Four  States 
had  left  the  Union,  and  the  South  was  rapidly  accepting  the 
idea  of  separate  nationality.  The  North  was  desperate  and 
helpless.  All  the  bitterness  and  confusion  centred  about 
Lincoln.  A  hundred  things  told  him  how  serious  was  the 
situation;  the  averted  faces  of  his  townsmen  of  Southern 
sympathies,  the  warnings  of  good  men  who  sought  him 
from  North,  and  South,  letters  threatening  him  with  death, 
sketches  of  gibbets  and  stilettos  in  every  mail. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  distracting  circumstances,  when  he 
thought  it  time  to  write  the  inaugural  address,  he  calmly 
locked  himself  up  in  an  upper  room  over  a  store,  across  the 
street  from  the  State  House,  where  he  had  his  office,  and 
there,  with  no  books  but  a  copy  of  the  "  Constitution/'  Henry 
Clay's  "  Speech  of  1850,"  Jackson's  "  Proclamation  against 
Nullification,"  and  Webster's  "  Reply  to  Hayne,"  he  pre- 
pared the  document.  Wishing  to  have  several  copies  of  it, 
he  went  to  the  general  manager  of  the  Illinois  "  State 
Journal,"  Major  Wm.  H.  Bailhache,  now  of  San  Diego, 
California,  to  arrange  for  them.  Major  Bailhache  has 
prepared  for  this  work  a  statement  of  the  incident : 

"  In  relation  to  the  printing  of  the  draft  of  his  first  inaugu- 
ral address,  my  recollection  is  very  clear  that  his  manner  was 
as  free  from  formality  and  affectation  as  it  would  have  been 
had  he  been  ordering  the  printing  of  a  legal  document.  He 
merely  asked  me,  one  day  early  in  January,  1861,  if  I  could 


404  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

print  his  address  in  a  certain  style  without  its  contents  becom- 
ing known,  and  upon  being  assured  that  I  could  do  so>  he 
remarked  that  he  would  give  me  the  manuscript  in  a  few 
days.  Not  long  after  this,  he  placed  the  momentous  paper  in 
my  hands.  I  had  the  work  done  at  once,  under  my  personal 
supervision,  in  a  private  room  in  the  "  Journal "  building, 
by  a  trusted  employe,  sworn  to  secrecy.  When  it  was 
finished,  I  returned  the  manuscript  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  together 
with  the  twenty  printed  copies  ordered,  one  of  which  he 
himself  gave  to  me,  and  it  has  been  retained  in  my  possession 
ever  since.  I  may  remark  in  passing,  that  the  manuscript 
was  all  in  his  own  handwriting  and  was  almost  entirely  free 
from  alterations  or  interlineations.  He  did  not  ask  to  see  a 
proof,  reposing  entire  confidence  in  my  careful  supervision. 
Neither  the  original  draft  nor  the  printed  sheets  were  ever 
out  of  my  immediate  custody  for  an  instant  during  the  time 
occupied  in  the  printing,  and  I  doubt  whether  any  of  the 
score  or  more  of  "  typos  "  employed  in  the  "  Journal  "  office 
had  even  the  slightest  suspicion  that  this  important  state 
paper  was  then  being  put  in  type  under  the  same  roof  with 
them.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  secret  was  well  kept,  although 
the  newspapers  employed  every  conceivable  means  to  obtain 
a  hint  of  its  tenor,  and  the  whole  country  was  in  a  state  of 
feverish  anxiety  to  learn  what  the  policy  of  the  new  Presi- 
dent was  to  be." 

Although  Lincoln  met  the  appalling  events  which  preceded 
his  inauguration  with  an  outward  calm,  which  led  many 
people  to  say  that  he  did  not  realize  the  seriousness  of  the 
situation,  he  was  keenly  alive  to  the  dangers  of  the  country 
and  to  the  difficulty  of  his  own  position.  So  full  of  threats 
and  alarms  had  his  life  become  by  the  time  of  his  election 
that  the  mysticism  of  his  nature  was  awakened,  and  he  was 
the  victim  of  an  hallucination  which  he  afterwards  described 
to  different  friends,  among  them  Noah  Brooks,  who  tells  the 
story  in  Lincoln's  own  words : 

It  was  just  after  my  election  in  1860,  when  the  news  had 
been  coming  in  thick  and  fast  all  day  and  there  had  been  a 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       405 

great  "  hurrah  boys,"  so  that  I  was  well  tired  out  and  went 
home  to  rest,  throwing  myself  down  on  a  lounge  in  my 
chamber.  Opposite  where  I  lay  was  a  bureau  with  a  swing- 
ing glass  upon  it  (and  here  he  got  up  and  placed  furniture  to 
illustrate  the  position),  and  looking  in  that  glass,  I  saw 
myself  reflected  nearly  at  full  length ;  but  my  face,  I  noticed, 
had  two  separate  and  distinct  images,  the  tip  of  the  nose  of 
one  being  about  three  inches  from  the  tip  of  the  other.  I  was 
a  little  bothered,  perhaps  startled,  and  got  up  and  looked  in 
the  glass,  but  the  illusion  vanished.  On  lying  down  again,  I 
saw  it  a  second  time,  plainer,  if  possible,  than  before;  and 
then  I  noticed  that  one  of  the  faces  was  a  little  paler — say, 
five  shades — than  the  other.  I  got  up,  and  the  thing  melted 
away,  and  I  went  off,  and  in  the  excitement  of  the  hour 
forgot  all  about  it — nearly,  but  not  quite,  for  the  thing  would 
once  in  a  while  come  up,  and  give  me  a  little  pang,  as  if 
something  uncomfortable  had  happened.  When  I  went  home 
again  that  night,  I  told  my  wife  about  it,  and  a  few  days 
afterward  I  made  the  experiment  again,  when  (with  a 
laugh),  sure  enough!  the  thing  came  again;  but  I  never 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  ghost  back  after  that,  though  I 
once  tried  very  industriously  to  show  it  to  my  wife,  who  was 
somewhat  worried  about  it.  She  thought  it  was  a  "  sign  " 
that  I  was  to  be  elected  to  a  second  term  of  office,  and  that 
the  paleness  of  one  of  the  faces  was  an  omen  that  I  should  not 
see  life  through  the  last  term. 

Of  far  deeper  significance  than  this  touch  of  superstition 
is  a  look  into  the  man's  heart  which  Judge  Gillespie,  a  life- 
long friend  of  Lincoln,  left,  and  which  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Josephine  Gillespie  Prickett,  of  Edwardsville,  Illinois,  has 
kindly  put  at  my  service.  Early  in  January,  Judge  Gillespie 
was  in  Springfield,  and  spent  the  night  at  Mr.  Lincoln's 
home.  It  was  late  before  the  President-elect  was  free,  and 
then  the  two  men  seated  themselves  by  the  fire  for  a  talk. 

"  I  attempted,"  says  Judge  Gillespie,  "  to  draw  him  into 
conversation  relating  to  the  past,  hoping  to  divert  him  from 
the  thoughts  which  were  evidently  distracting  him.  '  Yes, 


406  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

yes,  I  remember/  he  would  say  to  my  references  to  old  scenes 
and  associations ;  but  the  old-time  zest  was  not  only  lacking, 
but  in  its  place  was  a  gloom  and  despondency  entirely  foreign 
to  Lincoln's  character  as  I  had  learned  to  know  it.  I 
attributed  much  of  this  to  his  changed  surroundings.  He 
sat  with  his  head  lying  upon  his  arms,  which  were  folded 
over  the  back  of  his  chair,  as  I  had  often  seen  him  sit  on  our 
travels  after  an  exciting  day  in  court.  Suddenly  he  roused 
himself.  '  Gillespie/  said  he,  '  I  would  willingly  take  out  of 
my  life  a  period  in  years  equal  to  the  two  months  which 
intervene  between  now  and  my  inauguration  to  take  the  oath 
of  office  now/  '  Why  ? '  I  asked.  '  Because  every  hour 
adds  to  the  difficulties  I  am  called  upon  to  meet,  and  the 
present  administration  does  nothing  to  check  the  tendency 
toward  dissolution.  I,  who  have  been  called  to  meet  this 
awful  responsibility,  am  compelled  to  remain  here,  doing 
nothing  to  avert  it  or  lessen  its  force  when  it  comes  to  me/ 

"  I  said  that  the  condition  of  which  he  spoke  was  such  as 
had  never  risen  before,  and  that  it  might  lead  to  the  amend- 
ment of  such  an  obvious  defect  in  the  federal  Constitution. 
*  It  is  not  of  myself  I  complain,'  he  said,  with  more  bitterness 
than  I  ever  heard  him  speak,  before  or  after.  t  But  every 
day  adds  to  the  difficulty  of  the  situation,  and  makes  the 
outlook  more  gloomy.  Secession  is  being  fostered  rather 
than  repressed,  and  if  the  doctrine  meets  with  a  general 
acceptance  in  the  border  States,  it  will  be  a  great  blow  to  the 
government/ 

"  Our  talk  then  turned  upon  the  possibility  of  avoiding  a 
war.  '  It  is  only  possible/  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  upon  the 
consent  of  this  government  to  the  erection  of  a  foreign  slave 
government  out  of  the  present  slave  States.  I  see  the  duty 
devolving  upon  me.  I  have  read,  upon  my  knees,  the  story 
of  Gethsemane,  where  the  Son  of  God  prayed  in  vain  that  the 
cup  of  bitterness  might  pass  from  him.  I  am  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane  now,  and  my  cup  of  bitterness  is  full  and 
overflowing/ 

"  I  then  told  him  that  as  Christ  s  prayer  was  not  answered 
and  his  crucifixion  had  redeemed  the  great  part  of  the  world 
from  paganism  to  Christianity,  so  the  sacrifice  demanded  of 
him  might  be  a  great  beneficence.  Little  did  I  then  think 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       407 

how  prophetic  were  my  words  to  be,  or  what  a  great  sacrifice 
he  was  called  to  make. 

"  I  trust  and  believe  that  that  night,  before  I  let  him  go,  I 
shed  some  rays  of  sunlight  into  that  troubled  heart.  Ere 
long  he  came  to  talk  of  scenes  and  incidents  in  which  he  had 
taken  part,  and  to  laugh  over  my  reminders  of  some  of  our 
professional  experiences.  When  I  retired,  it  was  the  master 
of  the  house  and  chosen  ruler  of  the  country  who  saw  me  to 
my  room.  '  Joe/  he  said,  as  he  was  about  to  leave  me,  '  I 
suppose  you  will  never  forget  that  trial  down  in  Montgomery 
County,  where  the  lawyer  associated  with  you  gave  away  the 
whole  case  in  his  opening  speech.  I  saw  you  signaling  to 
him,  but  you  couldn't  stop  him.  Now,  that's  just  the  way 
with  me  and  Buchanan.  He  is  giving  away  the  case,  and  I 
have  nothing  to  say,  and  can't  stop  him.  Good-night/  ' 

But  the  time  for  going  to  Washington  was  drawing  near. 
There  had  been  considerable  discussion  about  when  he  had 
better  go.  So  many  threats  had  been  made  and  so  many 
rumors  were  in  the  air,  that  the  party  leaders  had  begun  to 
feel,  as  early  as  December,  that  the  President-elect  might 
never  get  to  Washington  alive.  Even  Seward,  optimist  as 
he  was,  felt  that  precautions  had  better  be  taken,  and  he 
wrote  Lincoln,  from  Washington,  on  December  28: 

There  is  a  feverish  excitement  here  which  awakens  all 
kinds  of  apprehensions  of  popular  disturbance  and  disorders, 
connected  with  your  assumption  of  the  government. 

I  do  not  entertain  these  apprehensions  myself.  But  it  is 
worth  consideration,  in  our  peculiar  circumstances,  that 
accidents  themselves  may  aggravate  opinion  here.  Habit 
has  accustomed  the  public  to  anticipate  the  arrival  of  the 
President-elect  in  this  city  about  the  middle  of  February ;  and 
evil-minded  persons  would  expect  to  organize  the  demon- 
strations for  that  time.  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  whether  it 
would  not  be  well  for  you,  keeping  your  own  counsel,  to  be 
prepared  to  drop  into  the  city  a  week  or  ten  days  earlier. 
The  effect  would  be,  probably,  reassuring  and  soothing. 


408  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied : 

I  have  been  considering  your  suggestions  as  to  my  reach- 
ing Washington  somewhat  earlier  than  is  usual.  It  seems  to 
me  the  inauguration  is  not  the  most  dangerous  point  for  us. 
Our  adversaries  have  us  now  clearly  at  disadvantage.  On 
the  second  Wednesday  of  February,  when  the  votes  should 
be  officially  counted,  if  the  two  Houses  refuse  to  meet  at 
all,  or  meet  without  a  quorum  of  each,  where  shall  we  be  ?  I 
do  not  think  that  this  counting  is  constitutionally  essential 
to  the  election ;  but  how  are  we  to  proceed  in  absence  of  it  ? 

In  view  of  this,  I  think  it  best  for  me  not  to  attempt 
appearing  in  Washington  till  the  result  of  that  ceremony  is 
known. 

The  peace  of  the  capital  was,  however,  in  good  hands. 
General  Scott,  the  general  in  command  of  the  army,  had, 
even  before  the  election,  seen  the  trouble  coming,  and  had 
pleaded  with  the  administration  to  dispose  of  the  United 
States  forces  in  such  a  way  as  to  protect  threatened  property. 
Early  in  January,  he  succeeded  in  securing  a  guard  for 
Washington.  The  fear  that  the  electoral  vote  would  never 
be  counted  partially  subsided  then,  and  Lincoln  announced 
that  he  would  leave  Springfield  on  February  n. 

The  fortnight  before  his  departure  he  gave  to  settling  up 
his  private  business  and  saying  good-by  to  his  old  friends. 
His  stepmother  was  still  living  near  Charleston,  in  Coles 
County,  and  thither  he  went  to  spend  a  day  with  her  and  to 
visit  his  father's  grave.  The  comfort  and  happiness  of  his 
stepmother  had  been  one  of  his  cares  from  the  time  he  began 
to  be  self-supporting,  and  in  this  farewell  visit  he  assured 
himself  that  her  future  was  provided  for.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  who 
was  now  a  very  old  woman  and  might  naturally  doubt 
whether  she  would  live  to  see  her  son  again,  was  not  con- 
cerned about  herself  at  this  time.  The  threats  which  pursued 
Lincoln  had  reached  her,  and  in  bidding  him  good-by,  she 
sobbed  out  her  belie*  that  she  would  never  see  him  again; 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       409 

that  his  life  would  be  taken.  This  same  fear  was  expressed 
by  many  of  Lincoln's  early  friends  who  came  to  Springfield 
to  say  good-by  to  him. 

In  the  multitude  of  partings  which  took  place  in  these  last 
days  none  was  more  characteristic  than  that  with  his  law 
partner,  Herndon.  The  day  before  his  departure,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln went  to  the  office  to  settle  some  unfinished  business. 

"After  those  things  were  all  disposed  of,"  writes  Mr. 
Herndon,  "  he  crossed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  and 
threw  himself  down  on  the  old  office  sofa,  which,  after  many 
years  of  service,  had  been  moved  against  the  wall  for  support. 
He  lay  for  some  moments,  his  face  towards  the  ceiling,  with- 
out either  of  us  speaking.  Presently  he  inquired,  '  Billy  ' — 
he  always  called  me  by  that  name — l  how  long  have  we  been 
together  ?  '  *  Over  sixteen  years/  I  answered.  '  We've 
never  had  a  cross  word  during  all  that  time,  have  we  ?  '  .  .  . 
He  gathered  a  bundle  of  papers  and  books  he  wished  to  take 
with  him,  and  started  to  go ;  but  before  leaving  he  made  the 
strange  request  that  the  sign-board  which  swung  on  its  rusty 
hinges  at  the  foot  of  the  stairway  should  remain.  '  Let  it 
hang  there  undisturbed,'  he  said,  with  a  significant  lowering 
of  the  voice.  '  Give  our  clients  to  understand  that  the  elec- 
tion of  a  president  makes  no  change  in  the  firm  of  Lincoln  & 
Herndon.  If  I  live,  I  am  coming  back  some  time,  and  then 
we'll  go  right  on  practising  law  as  if  nothing  had  happened.' 
He  lingered  for  a  moment,  as  if  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  old 
quarters,  and  then  passed  through  the  door  into  the  narrow 
hallway." 

Herndon  says  that  he  never  saw  Lincoln  more  cheerful 
than  on  that  day,  and  Judge  Gillespie,  who  visited  him  a  few 
days  earlier,  found  him  in  excellent  spirits.  "  I  told  him  that 
I  believed  it  would  do  him  good  to  get  down  to  Washing- 
ton." "  I  know  it  will,"  he  replied.  "  I  only  wish  I  could 
have  got  there  to  lock  the  door  before  the  horse  was  stolen. 
But  when  I  get  to  the  spot,  I  can  find  the  tracks." 


4IO  LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  party  were  to  leave  Springfield  by  a 
Special  train  at  eight  o'clock  on  Monday  morning,  February 
ii.  And  at  precisely  five  minutes  before  eight  o'clock,  he 
was  summoned  from  the  dingy  waiting-room  of  the  station. 
Slowly  working  his  way  through  the  crowd  of  friends  and 
townspeople  that  had  gathered  to  bid  him  good-by,  he 
mounted  the  platform  of  the  car,  and  turning,  stood  looking 
down  into  the  multitude  of  sad,  friendly  upturned  faces.  For 
a  moment  a  strong  emotion  shook  him ;  then,  removing  his 
hat  and  lifting  his  hand  to  command  silence,  he  spoke : 

My  friends,  no  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can  appreciate  my 
feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place,  and  the 
kindness  of  these  people,  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an 
old  man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born  and  one  is  buried. 
I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may 
return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested 
upon  Washington.  Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine 
Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that 
assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with 
me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us 
confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care 
commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  com- 
mend me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell.  * 

A  sob  went  through  the  listening  crowd  as  Mr.  Lincoln's 
broken  voice  asked  their  prayers,  and  a  choked  exclamation, 
"  We  will  do  it !  We  will  do  it !  "  rose  as  he  ceased  to  speak. 
Upon  all  who  listened  to  him  that  morning  his  words  pro- 
duced a  deep  impression.  "  I  was  only  a  lad  of  fourteen." 
says  Mr.  Lincoln  Dubois,  of  Springfield,  "  but  to  this  day  I 
can  recall  almost  the  exact  language  of  that  speech."  "  We 
have  known  Mr.  Lincoln  for  many  years,"  wrote  the  editor 
of  the  "  State  Journal."  "  We  have  heard  him  speak  upon  a 

*  The  version  of  the  farewell  speech  here  used  is  that  given  by  Nico« 
lay  and  Hay  in  their  "  Complete  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       411 

hundred  different  occasions ;  but  we  never  saw  him  so  pro- 
foundly affected,  nor  did  he  ever  utter  an  address  which 
seemed  to  us  so  full  of  simple  and  touching  eloquence,  so 
exactly  adapted  to  the  occasion,  so  worthy  of  the  man  and  the 
hour.  Although  it  was  raining  fast  when  he  began  to  speak, 
every  hat  was  lifted  and  every  head  bent  forward  to  catch 
the  last  words  of  the  departing  chief.  When  he  said,  with 
the  earnestness  of  a  sudden  inspiration  of  feeling,  that  with 
God's  help  he  should  not  fail,  there  was  an  uncontrollable 
burst  of  applause." 

The  speech  was  of  course  telegraphed  over  the  country, 
and  though  politicians  sneered  at  it,  the  people  were  touched. 
He  had  appealed  to  one  of  their  deepest  convictions,  the  belief 
in  a  Providence  whose  help  was  given  to  those  who  sought 
it  in  prayer.  The  new  President,  they  said  to  one  another, 
ivas  not  only  a  man  who  had  struggled  with  life  like  common 
people ;  he  was  a  man  who  believed,  as  they  did,  in  God,  and 
Was  not  ashamed  to  ask  the  prayers  of  good  men. 

The  journey  eastward  through  Illinois,  which  now  began, 
Was  full  of  incident.  No  better  description  of  it  was  ever 
given  than  that  of  Thomas  Ross,  a  brakeman  on  the  presi- 
dential train. 

"  The  enthusiasm  all  along  the  line  was  intense.  As  we 
whirled  through  the  country  villages,  we  caught  a  cheer  from 
the  people  and  a  glimpse  of  waving  handkerchiefs  and  of  hats 
tossed  high  into  the  air.  Wherever  we  stopped  there  was 
a  great  rush  to  shake  hands  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  though  of 
course  only  a  few  could  reach  him.  The  crowds  looked  as  if 
they  included  the  whole  population.  There  were  women  and 
children,  there  were  young  men,  and  there  were  old  men 
with  gray  beards.  It  was  soul-stirring  to  see  these  white- 
whiskered  old  fellows,  many  of  whom  had  known  Lincoln 
in  his  humbler  days,  join  in  the  cheering,  and  hear  them 
shout  after  him,  '  Good-by,  Abe.  Stick  to  the  Constitution, 
and  we  will  stick  to  you/  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  stand 


412  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

beside  Lincoln  at  each  place  at  which  he  spoke — at  Decatur, 
Tolono,  and  Danville.  At  the  State  line  the  train  stopped 
for  dinner.  There  was  such  a  crowd  that  Lincoln  could 
scarcely  reach  the  dining-room.  '  Gentlemen/  said  he,  as 
he  surveyed  the  crowd,  *  if  you  will  make  me  a  little  path,  so 
that  I  can  get  through  and  get  something  to  eat,  I  will  make 
you  a  speech  when  I  get  back/ 

"  I  never  knew  where  all  the  people  came  from.  They 
were  not  only  in  the  towns  and  villages,  but  many  were  along 
the  track  in  the  country,  just  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  Presi- 
dent's train.  I  remember  that,  after  passing  Bement,  we 
crossed  a  trestle,  and  I  was  greatly  interested  to  see  a  man 
standing  there  with  a  shot-gun.  As  the  train  passed  he  pre- 
sented arms.  I  have  often  thought  he  was  there,  a  volun- 
teer, to  watch  the  trestle  and  to  see  that  the  President's  train 
got  over  it  in  safety.  As  I  have  said,  the  people  everywhere 
were  wild.  Everybody  wanted  to  shake  hands  with  Lincoln, 
and  he  would  have  to  say :  *  My  friends,  I  would  like  to 
shake  hands  with  all  of  you,  but  I  can't  do  it/  At  Danville 
I  well  remember  seeing  him  thrust  his  long  arm  over  several 
heads  to  shake  hands  with  George  Lawrence.  Walter  Whit- 
ney, the  conductor,  who  went  on  to  Indianapolis,  told  me 
when  he  got  back  that,  after  Lincoln  got  into  a  carriage,  men 
got  hold  of  the  hubs  and  carried  the  vehicle  for  a  whole  block. 
At  the  State  line,  I  left  the  train,  and  returned  to  Springfield, 
having  passed  the  biggest  day  in  my  whole  life." 

It  was  nearly  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  the  party 
reached  Indianapolis,  where  they  were  to  spend  the  night. 
An  elaborate  reception  had  been  prepared,  and  here  Mr.  Lin- 
coln made  his  first  speech.  It  was  not  long,  but  it  contained 
a  paragraph  of  vital  importance.  The  discussion  over  the 
right  of  the  government  to  coerce  the  South  was  at  its  height. 
Lincoln  had  never  publicly  expresssed  himself  on  this  point. 
In  the  Indianapolis  speech  he  said : 

The  words  "  coercion  "  and  "  invasion  "  are  much  used  in 
these  days,  and  often  with  some  temper  and  hot  blood.  Let 
us  make  sure,  if  we  can,  that  we  do  not  misunderstand  the 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      413 

meaning  of  those  who  use  them.  Let  us  get  exact  definitions 
of  these  words,  not  from  dictionaries,  but  from  the  men 
themselves,  who  certainly  deprecate  the  things  they  would 
represent  by  the  use  of  words.  What,  then,  is  "  coer- 
cion "  ?  What  is  "  invasion  "  ?  Would  the  marching  of 
an  army  into  South  Carolina  without  the  consent  of  her 
people,  and  with  hostile  intent  toward  them,  be  "  inva- 
sion "  ?  I  certainly  think  it  would ;  and  it  would  be  "  coer- 
cion "  also  if  the  South  Carolinians  were  forced  to  submit. 
But  if  the  United  States  should  merely  hold  and  retake  its 
own  forts  and  other  property,  and  collect  the  duties  on 
foreign  importations,  or  even  withhold  the  mails  from  places 
where  they  were  habitually  violated,  would  any  or  all  of 
these  things  be  "  invasion  "  or  "  coercion  "  ?  Do  our  pro* 
fessed  lovers  of  the  Union,  but  who  spitefully  resolve  that 
they  will  resist  coercion  and  invasion,  understand  that  such 
things  as  these  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  would  be 
coercion  or  invasion  of  a  State  ?  If  so,  their  idea  of  means 
to  preserve  the  object  of  their  great  affection  would  seem  to 
be  exceedingly  thin  and  airy.  If  sick,  the  little  pills  of  the 
homeopathist  would  be  much  too  large  for  them  to  swallow. 
In  their  view,  the  Union  as  a  family  relation  would  seem  to 
be  no  regular  marriage,  but  rather  a  sort  of  "  free-love  "  ar- 
rangement, to  be  maintained  only  on  "  passional  attraction/' 

The  speech  was  warmly  applauded  by  the  Republican 
press.  It  was  the  sign  they  had  been  seeking  from  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. But  to  the  advocates  of  compromise  it  was  a  bitter 
message.  "  The  bells  of  St.  Germain  1'Auxerrois  have  at 
length  tolled  forth  the  signal  for  massacre  and  bloodshed  by 
the  incoming  administration,"  said  the  New  York  "Herald." 

A  long  public  reception  in  the  evening,  a  breakfast  the  next 
morning  with  the  Governor  of  the  State,  another  reception  at 
the  hotel,  and  then,  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  I2th, 
Mr.  Lincoln's  party  left  Indianapolis  for  Cincinnati.  Several 
of  the  friends  who  had  come  from  Springfield  left  Mr.  Lin* 
coin  at  Indianapolis,  but  others  joined  him,  and  the  train  waa 


4  H  MFE  OP  LINCOLN 

as  full  of  life  and  interest  as  it  had  been  the  day  before. 
There  was,  too,  the  same  succession  of  decorated,  cheering 
towns ;  the  same  eager  desire  to  see  and  hear  the  President  at 
every  station.  At  Cincinnati,  where  the  second  night  was 
spent  and  where  a  magnificent  reception  was  given  him,  Lin- 
coln made  two  brief  addresses.  In  that  to  the  Mayor  and 
citizens  he  was  particularly  happy : 

"  I  have  spoken  but  once  before  this  in  Cincinnati/'  he 
said.  "  That  was  a  year  previous  to  the  late  presidential 
election.  On  that  occasion,  in  a  playful  manner,  but  with 
sincere  words,  I  addressed  much  of  what  I  said  to  the  Ken- 
tuckians.  I  gave  my  opinion  that  we  as  Republicans  would 
ultimately  beat  them  as  Democrats,  but  that  they  could  post- 
pone that  result  longer  by  nominating  Senator  Douglas  for 
the  presidency  than  they  could  in  any  other  way.  They  did 
not,  in  any  true  sense  of  the  word,  nominate  Mr.  Douglas, 
and  the  result  has  come  certainly  as  soon  as  ever  I  expected. 
I  also  told  them  how  I  expected  they  would  be  treated  after 
they  should  have  been  beaten ;  and  I  now  wish  to  recall  their 
attention  to  what  I  then  said  upon  that  subject.  I  then  said, 
'  When  we  do  as  we  say — beat  you — you  perhaps  want  to 
know  what  we  will  do  with  you.  I  will  tell  you,  so  far  as  I 
am  authorized  to  speak  for  the  opposition,  what  we  mean  to 
do  with  you.  We  mean  to  treat  you,  as  near  as  we  possibly 
can,  as  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison  treated  you. 
We  mean  to  leave  you  alone,  and  in  no  way  interfere  with 
your  institutions ;  to  abide  by  all  and  every  compromise  of 
the  Constitution ;  and,  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the  original 
proposition,  to  treat  you,  so  far  as  degenerate  men — if  we 
have  degenerated — may,  according  to  the  examples  of  those 
noble  fathers,  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison.  We 
mean  to  remember  that  you  are  as  good  as  we ;  that  there  ia 
no  difference  between  us  other  than  the  difference  of  circum- 
stances. We  mean  to  recognize  and  bear  in  mind  always 
that  you  have  as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms  as  other  people, 
or  as  we  claim  to  have,  and  treat  you  accordingly.' 

"  Fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky ! — friends ! — brethren !  may 
I  call  you  in  my  new  position  ?  I  see  no  occasion,  and  feel  no 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      415 

inclination,  to  retract  a  word  of  this.     If  it  shall  not  be  made 
good,  be  assured  the  fault  shall  not  be  mine." 

These  conciliatory  remarks  were  received  with  great  en- 
thusiasm, the  crowd  rushing  at  him  as  soon  as  he  had  fin- 
ished, patting  him  on  the  back,  and  almost  wrenching  his 
arms  off  in  their  efforts  at  showing  their  approval. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  Mr.  Lincoln  left  Cincinnati  for 
Columbus.  Although  few  stops  were  made,  he  was  kept 
busy  receiving  the  committees  and  politicians  who  boarded 
the  train  here  and  there,  and  who  were  indefatigable  in  their 
efforts  to  draw  from  him  some  expression  of  his  views.  Mr. 
Lincoln  felt  that  to  answer  their  questions  would  be  the 
gravest  indiscretion,  and  he  resorted  to  stories  and  jests  in 
his  efforts  not  to  commit  himself  or  offend  his  visitors.  The 
reports  of  his  "  levity,"  as  more  than  one  felt  this  practice  to 
be,  were  telegraphed  over  the  country  and  bitterly  com- 
mented upon  by  a  large  part  of  the  press.  So  far,  however, 
as  the  stories  Mr.  Lincoln  told  on  his  journey  have  come  to 
us,  they  contain  quite  as  much  political  wisdom  as  a  sober 
dissertation  could  have  contained.  Thus  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  discussion  en  route  about  the  possibility  of  reconciling 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Democrats.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
appealed  to.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  once  knew  a  good  sound 
churchman  called  Brown,  who  was  on  a  committee  to  erect  a 
bridge  over  a  very  dangerous  and  rapid  river.  Several 
engineers  had  failed,  and  at  last  Brown  said  he  had  a  friend 
Jones,  who,  he  believed,  could  build  the  bridge.  Jones  was 
accordingly  summoned.  'Can  you  build  this  bridge?5 
asked  the  committee.  '  Yes/  replied  Jones ;  '  I  could  build  a 
bridge  to  the  infernal  regions  if  necessary.'  The  committee 
Was  horrified;  but  after  Jones  had  retired,  Brown  said 
thoughtfully,  '  I  know  Jones  so  well,  and  he  is  so  honest  a 
man  and  so  good  a  builder,  that  if  he  says  he  can  build  a 


4i 6  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

bridge  to  Hades,  why,  I  believe  it;  but  I  have  my  doubts 
about  the  abutments  on  the  infernal  side.'  So,"  said  Lin- 
coln, "  when  politicians  say  they  can  harmonize  the  Northern 
and  Southern  wings  of  the  Democracy,  v.Thy,  I  believe  them, 
but  I  have  my  doubts  about  the  abutments  on  the  Southern 
side." 

At  Columbus,  the  brilliant  receptions  of  Indianapolis  and 
Cincinnati  were  repeated,  and  here  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed 
briefly  the  State  Legislature.  One  clause  of  his  remarks 
proved  to  be  most  unfortunate : 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  interest  felt  in  relation  to 
the  policy  of  the  new  administration.  In  this  I  have  received 
from  some  a  degree  of  credit  for  having  kept  silence,  and 
from  others  some  depreciation.  I  still  think  that  I  was 
right.  .  .  . 

In  the  varying  and  repeatedly  shifting  scenes  of  the  pres- 
ent, and  without  a  precedent  which  could  enable  me  to  judge 
by  the  past,  it  has  seemed  fitting  that,  before  speaking  upon 
the  difficulties  of  the  country,  I  should  have  gained  a  view  of 
the  whole  field,  being  at  liberty  to  modify  and  change  the 
course  of  policy  as  future  events  may  make  a  change  neces- 
sary. 

I  have  not  maintained  silence  from  any  want  of  real  anx- 
iety. It  is  a  good  thing  that  there  is  no  more  than  anxiety, 
for  there  is  nothing  going  wrong.  It  is  a  consoling  circum- 
stance that  when  we  look  out  there  is  nothing  that  really 
hurts  anybody.  We  entertain  different  views  upon  political 
questions,  but  nobody  is  suffering  anything.  This  is  a  most 
consoling  circumstance,  and  from  it  we  may  conclude  that 
all  we  want  is  time,  patience,  and  a  reliance  on  that  God  who 
has  never  forsaken  this  people. 

A  hostile  press  took  the  phrases  "  there  is  nothing  going 
wrong  " — "  there  is  nothing  that  really  hurts  anybody  " — 
"  nobody  is  suffering  anything,"  and  used  them  apart  from 
the  context,  to  prove  that  the  President-elect  did  not  grasp 


MR   LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT       417 

the  situation.  At  Newark,  New  Jersey,  a  week  later,  just  be- 
fore the  presidential  party  passed  through,  a  poster  appeared 
in  the  town  quoting  these  sentences  and  calling  on  the  unem- 
ployed to  meet  at  the  station  when  Mr.  Lincoln's  train  ar- 
rived and  show  the  President  that  "  they  emphatically  dif- 
fered from  these  sentiments."  Nothing  came  of  this  attempt 
to  create  a  disturbance. 

On  Thursday  morning,  February  14,  the  presidential 
party  was  again  en  route,  this  time  bound  for  Pittsburg. 
Lincoln  must  have  made  this  journey  with  a  lighter  heart 
than  that  of  the  day  before,  for  the  danger  that  the  count- 
ing of  the  electoral  vote  would  be  interfered  with,  was  now 
over.  The  night  before  at  Columbus,  he  had  received  a  tele- 
gram which  read :  "  The  votes  have  been  peaceably  counted. 
You  are  elected."  The  ceremony  had  passed  off  without  in- 
cident. 

At  Pittsburg,  where  the  night  of  the  I4th  was  spent,  the 
President  spoke  to  an  immense  crowd,  and  as  the  issue  in 
Pennsylvania  had  been  so  largely  protection,  it  was  to  that 
doctrine  that  he  gave  his  chief  attention.  Nothing  could 
have  pleased  the  Iron  City  better.  The  people  were  so  wild 
with  enthusiasm  that  it  took  the  combined  efforts  of  the  po- 
lice and  militia  to  get  the  presidential  party  on  the  train  and 
out  of  town. 

From  the  hour  that  Lincoln's  coercion  remarks  at  Indian- 
apolis reached  the  country,  he  had  received  telegraphic  con- 
gratulations and  remonstrances  at  almost  every  stop  of  the 
train.  The  remarks  at  Columbus  produced  a  similar  result, 
and  he  seems  to  have  concluded  at  this  point  to  make  his  fu- 
ture speeches  more  general.  At  Cleveland,  Buffalo,  Albany, 
and  New  York  there  was  nothing  in  what  he  said  that  his 
enemies  could  fasten  on.  His  journey  from  Pittsburg  east- 
ward was  in  no  way  different  from  what  it  had  been  pre- 
viously. There  were  the  same  crowds  of  people  at  every 


41 8  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

station,  the  same  booming  of  cannon,  gifts  of  flowers,  recep 
tions  at  hotels,  breakfasts,  dinners,  and  luncheons  with  local 
magnates.  All  along  the  route  in  the  East,  as  in  the  West, 
the  people  were  out;  everywhere  there  were  flags  and  ban- 
ners and  mottoes.  The  party  in  the  train  continued  to 
change  as  it  had  done,  committees  and  "  leading  citizens  " 
replacing  each  other  in  rapid  succession.  None  of  these 
accessions  aroused  more  interest  among  the  other  members 
of  the  party  than  Horace  Greeley,  who  appeared  unexpect- 
edly at  Girard,  Ohio,  bag  and  blankets  in  hand,  and  after 
a  ride  of  twenty  miles  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  departed. 

At  Buffalo,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  on  Saturday,  the 
1 6th,  a  bit  of  variety  was  infused  into  the  celebration  by  the 
fulfilment  of  an  election  wager.  The  loser  was  to  saw  a  cord 
of  wood  in  front  of  the  American  House  and  present  it  to 
the  poorest  negro  to  be  found.  He  accordingly  appeared 
with  a  wagon-load  of  cord-wood  just  before  Mr.  Lincoln 
began  his  speech  from  the  hotel  balcony,  and  during  the  ad- 
dress sawed  vigorously. 

The  journey  through  New  York  State,  with  the  elaborate 
ceremonies  at  Albany  and  New  York  City,  occupied  three 
days,  and  it  was  not  until  the  evening  of  February  21  that 
Lincoln  reached  Philadelphia.  The  day  had  been  a  hard  one. 
He  had  left  New  York  early,  had  replied  to  greetings  at  Jer- 
sey City  and  again  at  Newark,  had  addressed  both  branches 
of  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  at  Trenton  and  gone  through 
a  formal  dinner  there,  and  now,  though  it  was  dark  and  cold, 
he  was  obliged  to  ride  in  state  through  the  streets  of  Phila- 
delphia to  his  hotel,  where  hundreds  of  visitors  soon  were 
surging  in  to  shake  his  hand.  The  hotel  was  still  crowded 
with  guests  when  he  was  summoned  to  the  room  of  one  of 
his  party,  Mr.  Norman  Judd.  There  he  was  introduced  to 
Mr.  Allan  Pinkerton,  who,  as  Mr.  Judd  explained,  was  a 
Chicago  detective  and  had  a  story  to  lay  before  him. 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      419 

"Pinkerton  informed  me,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln  afterwards, 
in  relating  the  affair  to  Benson  J.  Lossing,  "  that  a  plan 
had  been  laid  for  my  assassination,  the  exact  time  when  I 
expected  to  go  through  Baltimore  being  publicly  known. 
He  was  well  informed  as  to  the  plan,  but  did  not  know  that 
the  conspirators  would  have  pluck  enough  to  execute  it.  He 
urged  me  to  go  right  through  with  him  to  Washington  that 
night.  I  did  not  like  that.  I  had  made  engagements  to  visit 
Harrisburg,  and  go  from  there  to  Baltimore,  and  I  resolved 
to  do  so.  I  could  not  believe  that  there  was  a  plot  to  murder 
me.  I  made,  arrangements,  however,  with  Mr.  Judd  for  my 
return  to  Philadelphia  the  next  night,  if  I  should  be  con- 
vinced that  there  was  danger  in  going  through  Baltimore. 
I  told  him  that  if  I  should  meet  at  Harrisburg,  as  I  had  at 
other  places,  a  delegation  to  go  with  me  to  the  next  place 
(then  Baltimore),  I  should  feel  safe,  and  go  on." 

Mr.  Lincoln  left  Mr.  Pinkerton,  and  started  to  his  room. 
On  the  way  he  met  Ward  Lamon,  also  a  member  of  his  party, 
who  introduced  Frederick  Seward,  the  son  of  the  Senator. 
Mr.  Seward,  who  relates  this  story  in  his  life  of  his 
father,  told  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  had  a  letter  for  him 
from  his  father.  The  letter  informed  Mr.  Lincoln  that  Gen- 
eral Scott  and  Colonel  Stone,  the  latter  the  officer  command- 
ing the  District  of  Columbia  militia,  had  just  received  infor- 
mation which  seemed  to  them  convincing,  that  a  plot  existed 
in  Baltimore  to  murder  him  on  his  way  through  that  city. 
Mr.  Seward  besought  the  President  to  change  his  plan  and 
go  forward  secretly. 

Mr.  Lincoln  read  the  note  through  twice  slowly  and 
thoughtfully ;  then  looked  up,  and  said  to  Mr.  Seward,  "  Do 
you  know  anything  about  the  way  this  information  was  ob- 
tained?" 

No,  Mr.  Seward  knew  nothing. 

"  Did  you  hear  any  names  mentioned  ?  Did  you,  for  in- 
stance, ever  hear  anything  said  about  such  a  name  as  Pin* 
kerton?" 


420 


LIFE  OP  LINCOLN 


No,  Mr.  Seward  had  heard  no  names  mentioned  save 
those  of  General  Scott  and  Colonel  Stone. 

"  I  may  as  well  tell  why  I  ask,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln.  "  There 
were  stories  and  rumors  some  time  ago,  before  I  left  home, 
about  people  who  were  intending  to  do  me  a  mischief.  I 
never  attached  much  importance  to  them — never  wanted  to 
believe  any  such  thing.  So  I  never  would  do  anything  about 
them  in  the  way  of  taking  precautions  and  the  like.  Some 
of  my  friends,  though,  thought  differently — Judd  and  others 
— and,  without  my  knowledge,  they  employed  a*  detective  to 
look  into  the  matter.  It  seems  he  has  occasionally  reported 
what  he  found;  and  only  to-day,  since  we  arrived  at  this 
house,  he  brought  this  story,  or  something  similar  to  it,  about 
an  attempt  on  my  life  in  the  confusion  and  hurly-burly  of 
the  reception  at  Baltimore." 

"  Surely,  Mr.  Lincoln/'  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  that  is  a  strong 
corroboration  of  the  news  I  bring  you." 

He  smiled,  and  shook  his  head.  "  That  is  exactly  why  I 
was  asking  you  about  names.  If  different  persons,  not  know- 
ing of  each  other's  work,  have  been  pursuing  separate  clews 
that  led  to  the  same  result,  why,  then,  it  shows  there  must 
be  something  in  it.  But  if  this  is  only  the  same  story,  fil- 
tered through  two  channels,  and  reaching  me  in  two  ways, 
then  that  don't  make  it  any  stronger.  Don't  you  see  ?  " 

After  a  little  further  discussion  of  the  subject,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln rose  and  said :  "  Well,  we  haven't  got  to  decide  it  to- 
night, anyway,  and  I  see  it  is  getting  late.  You  need  not 
think  I  will  not  consider  it  well.  I  shall  think  it  over  care- 
fully, and  try  to  decide  it  right;  and  I  will  let  you  know  in 
the  morning." 

The  next  day  was  Washington's  birthday.  The  hauling 
down  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  the  South  and  the  substi- 
tuting of  State  flags  had  stirred  the  North  deeply.  The  day 
fche  first  Palmetto  Flag  was  raised  in  South  Carolina,  a  new 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      421 

reverence  for  the  national  emblem  was  born  in  the  North. 
The  flag  began  to  appear  at  every  window,  in  every  but- 
tonhole. On  January  29  Kansas  was  admitted  into  the 
Union,  without  slavery,  thus  adding  a  new  star  to  the  thirty- 
three  then  in  the  field;  and  for  raising  the  new  flag  thus 
made  necessary,  Washington's  birthday  became  almost  a 
universal  choice.  In  Philadelphia,  it  was  arranged  that  the 
new  flag  for  Independence  Hall  be  raised  by  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  ceremony  took  place  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  brief  speech  was  one  of  the  best  received  of  all 
he  made  on  the  journey : 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself  standing 
in  this  place,  where  were  collected  together  the  wisdom,  the 
patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle  from  which  sprang  the 
institutions  under  which  we  live.  You  have  kindly  sug- 
gested to  me  that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to 
our  distracted  country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the 
political  sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which 
originated  in  and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I 
have  never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from 
the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  have  often  pondered  over  the  dangers  which  were  incurred 
by  the  men  who  assembled  here  and  framed  and  adopted 
that  Declaration.  I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were 
endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  who  achieved 
that  independence.  I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what 
great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  Confederacy  so 
long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  the  motherland,  but  that  sentiment  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave  liberty  not  alone 
to  the  people  of  this  country,  but  hope  to  all  the  world,  for 
all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due 
time  the  weights  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all 
men,  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal  chance.  This  is  the 
sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on  that  basis? 


422  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men  in  the 
world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it,  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that 
principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be 
saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I 
would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it. 
Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there  is  no 
need  of  bloodshed  and  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course,  and  I  may  say  in  advance 
that  there  will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  is  forced  upon  the 
government.  The  government  will  not  use  force,  unless 
force  is  used  against  it. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unprepared  speech.  I  did  not 
expect  to  be  called  on  to  say  a  word  when  I  came  here.  I 
supposed  I  was  merely  to  do  something  toward  raising  a 
flag.  I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  indiscreet. 
[Cries  of  "  No,  no."]  But  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I 
am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty 
God,  to  die  by. 

It  was  after  returning  from  the  flag-raising  at  Philadel- 
phia that  Lincoln  told  his  friends  that  he  had  decided  to  go 
on  to  Washington  at  whatever  time  they  thought  best  after 
his  only  remaining  engagement  was  filled ;  viz.,  to  meet  and 
address  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  at  Harrisburg  that 
afternoon.  The  engagement  was  carried  out,  and  late  in 
the  afternoon  he  was  free.  It  had  been  arranged  that  he 
leave  Harrisburg  secretly  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  with 
Colonel  Lamon,  the  rest  of  his  party  to  know  nothing  of  his 
departure.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  like  to  go  without  at 
least  informing  his  companions,  and  asked  that  they  be 
called.  "  I  reckon  they'll  laugh  at  us,  Judd,"  he  said,  "  but 
you  had  better  get  them  together."  Several  of  the  party, 
when  told  of  the  project,  opposed  it  violently,  arguing  that 
it  would  expose  Mr.  Lincoln  to  ridicule  and  to  the  charge  of 
cowardice.  He,  however,  answered  that  unless  there  was 
something  besides  ridicule  to  fear,  he  was  disposed  to  carry 
out  Mr.  Judd's  plan. 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      423 

At  six  o'clock  he  left  his  hotel  by  a  back  door,  bareheaded, 
a  soft  hat  in  his  pocket,  and  entering  a  carriage,  was  driven 
to  the  station,  where  a  car  and  engine,  unlighted  save  for  a 
headlight,  awaited  him.  A  few  minutes  after  eleven  o'clock, 
he  was  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  night  train  for  Washing- 
ton was  being  held  by  order  of  the  president  of  the  road  for 
an  "  important  package."  This  package  was  delivered  to 
the  conductor  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
on  the  train.  At  six  o'clock  the  next  morning,  after  an  un- 
disturbed night,  he  was  in  Washington,  where  Mr.  Wash- 
burne  and  Mr.  Seward  met  him,  and,  with  devout  thanks- 
giving, conducted  him  to  Willard's  Hotel,  there  to  remain 
until  after  the  inauguration. 

There  were  still  nine  days  before  the  inauguration,  and 
nine  busier  days  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  spent  since  his  elec- 
tion. He  was  obliged  to  make  visits  to  President  Buchanan, 
Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court,  and  under  Mr.  Seward's 
guidance,  this  was  done  at  once.  He  received,  too,  great 
numbers  of  visitors,  including  many  delegations  and  com- 
mittees. The  Hon.  James  Harlan,  of  Iowa,  at  that  time 
United  States  Senator,  called  on  Mr.  Lincoln  on  February 
23,  the  day  of  his  arrival.  "  He  was  overwhelmed  with 
callers,"  says  Mr.  Harlan.  "  The  room  in  which  he 
stood,  the  corridors  and  halls  and  stairs  leading  to  it,  were 
crowded  full  of  people,  each  one,  apparently,  intent  on  ob- 
taining an  opportunity  to  say  a  few  words  to  him  privately" 

It  was  in  these  few  days  before  his  inauguration  that  the 
great  fight  over  the  future  Cabinet  was  made.  As  we  have 
seen,  Lincoln  had  made  his  selections,  subject  to  events,  be- 
fore he  left  Springfield.  When  he  reached  Washington  he 
sought  counsel  on  his  proposed  appointments  from  great 
numbers  of  the  leading  men  of  the  country.  If  they  did  not 
come  to  him,  he  went  to  them.  Thus  ex-Senator  Harlan,  in 
an  unpublished  manuscnot  "  Recollections  of  Abraham  Lin- 


424  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

coin,"  tells  how  the  President-elect  sounded  him  on  the  Cabi- 
net. "  A  page  came  to  me  at  my  desk  in  the  Senate  Cham- 
ber," writes  Mr.  Harlan,  "  and  said,  l  The  President-elect  is 
in  the  President's  room  and  wishes  to  see  you/  I  confess 
that  I  felt  a  little  flurried  by  this  announcement.  I  had  not 
been  accustomed  to  being  called  in  by  Presidents  of  the 
United  States ;  hence,  to  gain  a  little  time  for  self -composure, 
I  said  to  the  little  page,  '  How  do  you  know  that  the  Presi- 
dent-elect wishes  to  see  me? '  '  Oh/  said  he,  '  his  messen- 
ger came  to  the  door  of  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  sent  me  to 
tell  you/  '  All  right/  said  I.  '  You  may  tell  the  President's 
messenger  that  I  will  call  immediately/  which,  of  course,  I 
did  without  the  least  delay. 

"  I  was  received  by  the  President  in  person,  who,  after  the 
ordinary  greetings,  offered  me  a  seat,  and  seated  himself 
near  me.  No  one  else  was  in  the  room.  He  commenced  the 
conversation,  saying  in  a  half-playful,  half-serious  tone  and 
manner, '  I  sent  for  you  to  tell  me  whom  to  appoint  as  mem- 
bers of  my  Cabinet/  I  responded,  saying,  '  Mr.  President, 
as  that  duty,  under  the  Constitution,  devolves,  in  the  first 
instance,  on  the  President,  I  have  not  given  to  the  subject  a 
serious  thought;  I  have  no  names  to  suggest,  and  expect  to 
be  satisfied  with  your  selections/  He  then  said  he  had  about 
concluded  to  nominate  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  as 
Secretary  of  State;  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri,  for  Attor- 
ney-General; Caleb  B.  Smith,  of  Indiana,  for  Secretary  of 
the  Interior ;  Gideon  Welles,  of  Connecticut,  for  Secretary  of 
the  Navy ;  Montgomery  lUair,  of  Maryland,  for  Postmaster- 
General;  and  that  he  thought  he  ought  to  appoint  Simon 
Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio, 
for  the  remaining  two  places,  but  was  in  doubt  which  one  to 
offer  Mr.  Cameron  and  would  like  to  have  me  express  my 
opinion  frankly  on  the  point. 

" '  Well/  said  I.  '  Mr.  President,  if  that  is  the  only  ques- 


MR.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT-ELECT      425 

tion  involved,  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  Mr.  Chase 
ought  to  be  made  Secretary  of  the  Treasury/  and  then  I  pro- 
ceeded to  mention,  without  hesitation  or  reserve,  my  reasons 
for  this  opinion.  He  thanked  me  cordially  for  my  frankness. 
I  took  my  leave.  This  interview  lasted  probably  about  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes." 

Not  all  of  those  with  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  talked  about  his 
Cabinet  professed,  like  Senator  Harlan,  to  be  satisfied  with 
his  selections.  Radical  Republicans,  mistrusting  Seward's 
spirit  of  compromise,  besought  him  to  take  Chase  and  drop 
Seward  altogether.  Conservatives,  on  the  contrary,  fear- 
ing Chase's  implacable  "  no  compromise  "  spirit,  urged  Lin- 
coln to  omit  him  from  the  Cabinet  Seward  finally,  on  March 
2,  probably  thinking  to  force  Lincoln's  hand,  withdrew  his 
consent  to  take  an  appointment.  He  said  later  that  he  feared 
a  "  compound  Cabinet  '*  and  did  not  wish  to  "  hazard  "  him- 
self in  the  experiment.  This  action  brought  no  immediate 
reply  from  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  simply  left  Seward's  name 
where  he  had  placed  it  at  the  head  of  the  slate.  The  struggle 
over  Cameron's  appointment,  which  had  been  going  on  for 
more  than  two  months,  now  culminated  in  a  desperate  en- 
counter. The  appointment  of  Blair  was  hotly  contested. 
Caleb  Smith's  seat  was  disputed  by  Schuyler  Colfax.  In 
short,  it  was  a  day-and-night  battle  of  the  factions  of  the 
Republican  party,  which  raged  around  Lincoln  from  the  hour 
he  appeared  in  Washington  until  the  hour  of  his  inaugura- 
tion. 

In  spite  of  all  the  arguments  and  threats  from  excited  and 
earnest  men,  to  which  he  listened  candidly  and  patiently; 
Lincoln  found  himself,  on  the  eve  of  his  inauguration,  with 
the  Cabinet  which  he  had  selected  four  months  before  un- 
changed. This  fact,  had  it  been  known,  might  have  modified 
somewhat  the  opinion  expressed  generally  at  the  time,  that 
the  new  President  would  never  be  anything  but  the  tool  of 


426  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

Chase  or  Seward,  or  of  whoever  proved  to  be  the  strong  man 
of  his  Cabinet— that  is,  if  he  was  ever  inaugurated.  Of 
this  last  many  had  doubts,  and  even,  at  the  last  hour,  were 
betting  in  the  hotel  corridors  and  streets  of  Washington  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  would  never  be  President  of  the  United 
States. 


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